Abstract
Background: Compliance of patients with self-care practices is the mainstay of measures to manage diabetes. This study explored self-care practices of type 2 diabetes patients receiving insulin treatment in North-East Ethiopia. Methods: The study employed an interpretive phenomenological approach using purposive sampling. The data were collected from 24 (11 males and 13 females) participants (July 2019 to January 2020) using in-depth interviews till theoretical saturation. The data were analyzed thematically and organized using QDA Miner Lite v2.0.8. Results: The findings were categorized into: labeling diabetes, self-care maintenance experiences, recognition of symptoms, and mitigating mechanisms of symptoms. The self-care maintenance practice of patients was linked with diet input preferences and the effectiveness level of insulin. What guides the self-care behavior was the patients’ preferentiality of strictly adhering to their preferred dietary inputs. Barley and wheat were the most common preferential and non-preferential inputs, respectively. The patients strictly adhered to insulin treatment because they found it effective. The most common hyperglycemia symptoms to be managed by taking an additional dose of insulin, were frequent urination, increased thirst, and their consequences (dehydration). Excessive sweating (initial), shivering (middle), and falling (final), respectively in severity, were the most common symptoms of hypoglycemia which were perceived to be treated with sweet snacks. Originality: To our knowledge, this is the first research in Ethiopia to investigate the self-care experiences of type 2 diabetes patients receiving insulin using an interpretive phenomenological approach.
Highlights
Self-care of chronic illness is somewhat different from the general issue of self-care, in that it should be illness-specific (Riegel et al, 2012)
The diabetes patients themselves are responsible for their disease management to the extent of 95% (Abrahim et al, 2011; Adam, 2012; Sharma & Joshi, 2016)
This study aimed to explore self-care practices of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients receiving insulin treatment in Dessie City Administration (DCA), North-East Ethiopia
Summary
Self-care of chronic illness is somewhat different from the general issue of self-care, in that it should be illness-specific (Riegel et al, 2012). The critical factor to control diabetes is self-care: healthy lifestyles and adherence to treatment (Abrahim et al, 2011; Shrivastava et al, 2013). Compliance of patients with self-care practices is the mainstay of measures to manage diabetes. This study explored selfcare practices of type 2 diabetes patients receiving insulin treatment in North-East Ethiopia. The self-care maintenance practice of patients was linked with diet input preferences and the effectiveness level of insulin. What guides the self-care behavior was the patients’ preferentiality of strictly adhering to their preferred dietary inputs. The patients strictly adhered to insulin treatment because they found it effective. Originality: To our knowledge, this is the first research in Ethiopia to investigate the self-care experiences of type 2 diabetes patients receiving insulin using an interpretive phenomenological approach
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