Background:

Affective-motivational functioning affects the control over chronic diseases and the attitudes that patients assume towards the disease.

Objective:

To characterize the affective-motivational specificities that distinguish behavioral adaptations in prediabetic and chronic diabetic patients.

Methods:

A mixed research paradigm was applied, with a sequential exploratory design. The sample was composed by a total number of 20 patients, distributed in two groups: one composed by prediabetic patients and the other by diabetic ones. The RAMDI (S), the Dembo-Rubinstein Scale, and the Sentence Completion Test were applied, the Composition Technique.

Results:

Affective-motivational differences between the two groups were detected, manifested in the consciousness or not of the disease and consequent behavior regulation. A tendency to overestimate the health variable prediabetic patients and underestimate diabetic patients prevailed.

Conclusions:

Prediabetic patients do not recognize themselves as sick, do not value the risks they take with their status and do not engage in a lifestyle change. The diabetic patient group was characterized by expressing disease self-consciousness, affective compromise and personal development, as the processes that facilitate the adjustment of their behavior.

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