"It is not a disease like cancer, we can live well with diabetes" - A qualitative study exploring positive experiences of diabetic patients.

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus poses a significant challenge to the healthcare system. Healthcare providers focus mainly on clinical targets, which explain the short-term benefits and limited long-term effects on outcomes. Patient experiences can be included in diabetes care to assist diabetic patients lead healthy lives. Despite the focus on complications and barriers, there is minimal research on the positive aspects of living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. This study aims to fill the gap by identifying and exploring the positive experiences of diabetic patients that could enhance diabetes management, patient behaviour, and well-being. This qualitative study was conducted among diabetic patients at the Urban Health and Training Centre, Villupuram. The respondents were selected using a purposive sampling method from the list of diabetic patients attending the non-communicable disease clinic. One-to-one interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide by asking participants open-ended questions about diabetes self-care, healthcare experiences, social networks, career aspirations, community involvement, and messages for newly diagnosed individuals with diabetes. Individual interviews were conducted until no new information was generated from the additional interviews and data saturation was attained. Manual content analysis was done from the transcripts. The positive experiences were classified under four broad themes and eight categories, namely, mindset shift, optimism after seeing good results, dietary changes, healthy lifestyle choices, family support, treating doctor's guidance, self-care practices, and medication adherence. Communicating positive experiences of people with diabetes promotes optimism, enhances self-care, and improves both mental and physical well-being.