Exploring T2DM Patients’ Motivation in Diabetic Self-care: a Qualitative Study

Abstract

Motivation refers to the larger mental processes that guide individual behaviours. Self-care behaviours are crucial in aiding disease adaptation by improving treatment adherence, disease control, quality of life, and self-perceived health status. Diabetic patients have been shown to have fewer concerns about their health. Thus, this study aimed to explore the motivating factors of diabetes self-care (DSC) among people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). A qualitative approach was adopted to explore and better understand the motivation behind self-care among diabetic patients. In-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted with 21 patients from two government healthcare facilities in Selangor, namely Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang and the Meru Health Clinic from November to December 2019. All the qualitative data were managed using the NVivo software and thematically analysed. In general, this study identified two major types of motivation: self-motivation and social- motivation. Under self-motivation, there were six significant sub-themes, i.e. perceived better health condition having received DM exposure, perceived importance of diet and medication, self or personal experience, fear of diabetes complications, perceived importance of lifestyle modification, and positive thinking. In addition, the results revealed five significant sub-themes in terms of social-motivation: family support, community support, others’ experiences, financial support, and employer support. Our findings demonstrated the importance of various motivating factors in providing self-care support to diabetic patients. A well-planned diabetes management programme should incorporate motivational support to encourage patients to better manage their conditions.