The Japanese version of Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale: a clinical and research tool to assess emotional functioning among people with diabetes

Introduction The purpose of this study was to develop the Japanese version of the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale, a measure of emotional adjustment to diabetes that has been translated into Japanese by our group. Materials and methods A total of 418 Japanese people with diabetes attending our outpatient clinic participated ( n = 65 type 1 and n = 353 type 2). We assessed the internal reliability of the PAID, examined correlations of the PAID with conceptually related psychosocial constructs, evaluated mean differences in the PAID between diabetes treatment groups, and examined correlations of the PAID with diabetes self-care behaviours and selected treatment outcomes. Results Results showed that the PAID had excellent reliability (Cronbach alpha = 0.934). The PAID correlated significantly with the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire ( r = −0.593, p < 0.0001) and the positive wellbeing ( r = −0.396, p < 0.0001), negative wellbeing ( r = −0.640, p < 0.0001) and energy ( r = −0.444, p < 0.0001) subscales of the Wellbeing Questionnaire. Adherence to diet was negatively correlated with PAID score ( r = −0.263, p < 0.0001). The frequency of recent hypoglycemia and number of chronic complications (retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy) were positively correlated with PAID scores. PAID was weakly correlated with HbA1c ( r = 0.13, p = 0.01). Conclusions In conclusion, the Japanese version of the PAID demonstrated good internal reliability and evidence of concurrent and discriminant validity. The PAID measures the impact of diabetes, diabetes treatment and treatment outcomes on the emotions of people with diabetes. The results provide encouraging evidence for the clinical utility of the PAID in Japanese people with diabetes.