“Learning to live with diabetes” what are individuals’ experiences of being active in diabetes self-management? qualitative study

An essential component of effective self-management of diabetes is an active patient. Various interventions to increase patient activation are available in the literature. Benefiting from the experiences of patients with different activation levels in increasing activation will help in planning patient-specific interventions.

This qualitative study was conducted to investigate the experiences of individuals with diabetes regarding activation in diabetes self-management.

This study was conducted in a descriptive phenomenological type. Individuals with diabetes with low activation level and high activation level were included in the study. A semi-structured standardized questionnaire prepared by the researcher using the literature was used to collect data.

In the study, the experiences of individuals with diabetes regarding activation were determined as five main themes: the meaning of being active in diabetes management, perceptions of obstacles to being active in diabetes management, facilitators of being active in diabetes management, expectations about being active in diabetes management, and suggestions for being active in diabetes management.

As a result of our study, experiences were obtained that will guide diabetic individuals and healthcare professionals in increasing the activation of individuals with diabetes.