IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v24y2015i7-8p1011-1023.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experiences of diabetes self‐management: a focus group study among Australians with type 2 diabetes

Author

Listed:
  • Mary Carolan
  • Jessica Holman
  • Michelle Ferrari

Abstract

Aims and objectives The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and concerns of individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus, in a predominantly low socio‐economic setting. Background Currently, approximately 1 million Australians have diabetes and rates have more than doubled since 1989. Type 2 diabetes mellitus accounts for approximately 85% of diabetes cases. Risk factors include obesity, older age, low socio‐economic status, sedentary lifestyle and ethnicity. Older individuals from low socio‐economic backgrounds are particularly at risk of both developing and of mismanaging their condition. Design Exploratory qualitative design. Methods Focus groups were used to collect data from 22 individuals, aged 40 to more than 70 years, with type 2 diabetes mellitus, who were attending local health services for their diabetes care. Focus groups ranged in size from four to eight individuals and all were recorded, transcribed and analysed. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Results Participants described their experiences of managing their diabetes as emotionally, physically and socially challenging. Data analysis revealed four main themes including: (1) diabetes the silent disease; (2) a personal journey (3) the work of managing diabetes; and (4) access to resources and services. Throughout, participants highlighted the impact of diabetes on the family, and the importance of family members in providing support and encouragement to assist their self‐management efforts. Conclusions Participants in this study were generally satisfied with their diabetes care but identified a need for clear simple instruction immediately post‐diagnosis, followed by a need for additional informal information when they had gained some understanding of their condition. Relevance to clinical practice Findings reveal a number of unmet information and support needs for individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In particular, it is important for healthcare professionals and family members to recognise the significant emotional burden that diabetes imposes, and the type and quantity of information individuals with diabetes prefer. It is also important to consider levels of health literacy in the community when developing diabetes‐related information or programmes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary Carolan & Jessica Holman & Michelle Ferrari, 2015. "Experiences of diabetes self‐management: a focus group study among Australians with type 2 diabetes," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(7-8), pages 1011-1023, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:24:y:2015:i:7-8:p:1011-1023
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.12724
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12724
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.12724?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mary Cooke & Sue Thackray, 2012. "Differences between community professional and patient perceptions of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment outcomes: a qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(11‐12), pages 1524-1533, June.
    2. Marika Tammaru & Kaja Polluste & Margus Lember, 2010. "The sources of disease‐related information for Estonia’s rheumatoid arthritis patients: a qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(9‐10), pages 1343-1351, May.
    3. Paul Zimmet & K. G. M. M. Alberti & Jonathan Shaw, 2001. "Global and societal implications of the diabetes epidemic," Nature, Nature, vol. 414(6865), pages 782-787, December.
    4. Savoca, Margaret R & Miller, Carla K & Quandt, Sara A, 2004. "Profiles of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: the extremes of glycemic control," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 2655-2666, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eileen Boyle & Rosemary Saunders & Vicki Drury, 2016. "A qualitative study of patient experiences of Type 2 Diabetes care delivered comparatively by General Practice Nurses and Medical Practitioners," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(13-14), pages 1977-1986, July.
    2. Laura K. Bech & Camilla Borch Jacobsen & Anne Sophie Mathiesen & Thordis Thomsen, 2019. "Preferring to manage by myself: A qualitative study of the perspectives of hardly reached people with type 2 diabetes on social support for diabetes management," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(9-10), pages 1889-1898, May.
    3. Cecilia Gardsten & Kerstin Blomqvist & Mikael Rask & Åse Larsson & Agneta Lindberg & Gith Olsson, 2018. "Challenges in everyday life among recently diagnosed and more experienced adults with type 2 diabetes: A multistage focus group study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(19-20), pages 3666-3678, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hidenori Shimizu & Junki Miyamoto & Keiko Hisa & Ryuji Ohue-Kitano & Hiromi Takada & Mayu Yamano & Akari Nishida & Daiki Sasahara & Yuki Masujima & Keita Watanabe & Shota Nishikawa & Sakura Takahashi , 2025. "Sucrose-preferring gut microbes prevent host obesity by producing exopolysaccharides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Angel Denche-Zamorano & Jorge Perez-Gomez & Sabina Barrios-Fernandez & Rafael Oliveira & Jose C. Adsuar & João Paulo Brito, 2023. "Relationships between Physical Activity Frequency and Self-Perceived Health, Self-Reported Depression, and Depressive Symptoms in Spanish Older Adults with Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Troels Kristensen & Kim Rose-Olsen & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2020. "Effects of Point-Of-Care Testing in General Practice for Type 2 Diabetes Patients on Ambulatory Visits and Hospitalizations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Mary Cooke & Malcolm Campbell, 2014. "Comparing patient and professional views of expected treatment outcomes for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a Delphi study identifies possibilities for change in service delivery in England, UK," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(13-14), pages 1990-2002, July.
    5. Hui-Ju Tsai & Chia-Ying Li & Wen-Chi Pan & Tsung-Chieh Yao & Huey-Jen Su & Chih-Da Wu & Yinq-Rong Chern & John D. Spengler, 2020. "The Effect of Surrounding Greenness on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Cannuscio, Carolyn C. & Hillier, Amy & Karpyn, Allison & Glanz, Karen, 2014. "The social dynamics of healthy food shopping and store choice in an urban environment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 13-20.
    7. Zandra Overgaard Pedersen & Bettina Ewers & Cathrine Lawaetz Wimmelmann & Allan Kofoed-Enevoldsen & Rasmus Køster-Rasmussen & Christian Couppé & Erik Simonsen & Jesper Dammeyer, 2024. "A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Associations between Personality Traits, Glycemic Control, and BMI in Persons with Diabetes: Lolland-Falster Health Study, Denmark," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(9), pages 1-12, September.
    8. Gladness Nteboheng Lion & Joshua Oluwole Olowoyo, 2023. "Possible Sources of Trace Metals in Obese Females Living in Informal Settlements near Industrial Sites around Gauteng, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Adrian Fianu & Léa Bourse & Nadège Naty & Nathalie Le Moullec & Benoît Lepage & Thierry Lang & François Favier, 2016. "Long-Term Effectiveness of a Lifestyle Intervention for the Primary Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes in a Low Socio-Economic Community – An Intervention Follow-Up Study on Reunion Island," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Tunku Salha, T.A. & O’Neill, C. & Rowan, N.J., 2013. "The Use of Cointegration and Error Correction Modelling To Investigate the Influence of Diabetes and Associated Medical Services Expenditure on Economic Growth in Malaysia," Journal of Asian Scientific Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(6), pages 644-653, June.
    11. Fiona Geaney & Cristian Scutaru & Clare Kelly & Ronan W Glynn & Ivan J Perry, 2015. "Type 2 Diabetes Research Yield, 1951-2012: Bibliometrics Analysis and Density-Equalizing Mapping," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    12. de Alba Garcia, Javier Garcia & Rocha, Ana L. Salcedo & Lopez, Ivette & Baer, Roberta D. & Dressler, William & Weller, Susan C., 2007. ""Diabetes is my companion": Lifestyle and self-management among good and poor control Mexican diabetic patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(11), pages 2223-2235, June.
    13. Baum, Peter, 2011. "A new track for technology: Can ICT take care for healthier lifestyles?," 22nd European Regional ITS Conference, Budapest 2011: Innovative ICT Applications - Emerging Regulatory, Economic and Policy Issues 52185, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    14. Amira M. Elsherbini & Alsamman M. Alsamman & Nehal M. Elsherbiny & Mohamed El-Sherbiny & Rehab Ahmed & Hasnaa Ali Ebrahim & Joaira Bakkach, 2022. "Decoding Diabetes Biomarkers and Related Molecular Mechanisms by Using Machine Learning, Text Mining, and Gene Expression Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-18, October.
    15. Valeriya Lyssenko & Peter Almgren & Dragi Anevski & Marju Orho-Melander & Marketa Sjögren & Carola Saloranta & Tiinamaija Tuomi & Leif Groop & the Botnia Study Group, 2005. "Genetic Prediction of Future Type 2 Diabetes," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(12), pages 1-1, November.
    16. Samuel Ojima Adejoh, 2014. "Diabetes Knowledge, Health Belief, and Diabetes Management Among the Igala, Nigeria," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(2), pages 21582440145, June.
    17. Bin Cui & Xiaolin Zhu & Min Xu & Ting Guo & Dalong Zhu & Gang Chen & Xuejun Li & Lingyan Xu & Yufang Bi & Yuhong Chen & Yu Xu & Xiaoying Li & Weiqing Wang & Haifeng Wang & Wei Huang & Guang Ning, 2011. "A Genome-Wide Association Study Confirms Previously Reported Loci for Type 2 Diabetes in Han Chinese," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    18. Liu Xu & Gao Bin & Cui Yuehua, 2017. "Generalized partial linear varying multi-index coefficient model for gene-environment interactions," Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 59-74, March.
    19. Renat Sergazinov & Andrew Leroux & Erjia Cui & Ciprian Crainiceanu & R. Nisha Aurora & Naresh M. Punjabi & Irina Gaynanova, 2023. "A case study of glucose levels during sleep using multilevel fast function on scalar regression inference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 79(4), pages 3873-3882, December.
    20. Hajah Norhakimah Haji Mohd Nor & Masitah Shahrill, 2014. "Using a Case-Control Genotypic Testing in Investigating the Association with Type-2 Diabetes," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(6), pages 1-1, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:24:y:2015:i:7-8:p:1011-1023. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.