The psychosocial needs of carers of people with type 2 diabetes.

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes causes poor health outcomes if management is ineffective. Day-to-day self-management of type 2 diabetes is associated with diabetes distress, anxiety, and depression. This is also true for family members and informal (unpaid) carers, albeit the knowledge base about their lived experience is under-developed. The aims of the research were to understand the lived experience of carers of people with type 2 diabetes, and what their psychosocial needs are by revealing the interaction between psychological and social experiences. Qualitative phenomenological research was undertaken within a constructionist paradigm. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted using an interview schedule developed with local patient feedback. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four themes emerged around carers' psychosocial needs framed by an over-arching theme of carer stress. 1. Many carers benefitted from therapeutic discussions that allowed them to offload stress and seek professional affirmation about lifestyle change and difficult care decisions. 2. Carers reduced stress by defining caring boundaries and avoiding dyadic conflict. 3. They needed to protect the future by remaining personally healthy and limiting any escalation in the burden of care. 4. Maintaining and encouraging positive thinking within caring dyads enabled carers to offset stress by arranging enjoyable experiences and making diabetes relatively unimportant. The research gave voice to this group of carers, many of whom experienced stress in their roles. They reduced stress about lifestyle change through a variety of strategies that have implications for effective management of diabetes within dyads and future health outcomes.