Altered Self-Observations, Unclear Risk Perceptions and Changes in Relational Everyday Life: A Qualitative Study of Psychosocial Life with Diabetes during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

When the Danish society went into COVID-19 lockdown, it dramatically changed the conditions for living with a chronic disease like diabetes. The present article highlights the psychosocial effects of this change. The dataset consists of 20 semi-structured online interviews with people with diabetes. The data were analyzed using radical hermeneutics and interpreted using Luhmann’s operative constructivist systems theory. The analysis produced three main themes: (1) people with diabetes experience altered self-observations–mainly due to society labelling them as vulnerable, (2) people with diabetes have unclear risk perceptions due to lack of concrete knowledge about the association between COVID-19 and diabetes, and (3) changes in conditions for maintaining and creating meaningful relations have a significant impact on everyday life with diabetes. These findings have important implications for risk communication. People respond in a multitude of ways to communications issued by health authorities and with close relations, and their meaning-making is shaped by, and shapes, their self-observations, risk perceptions and relational environments. This calls for more targeted communication strategies as well as increased use of peer support; the goal being to help people create meaning in their own environments.

What people with diabetes in Denmark worry about during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A longitudinal study of the first 3 months of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“… 13 Those with type 2 diabetes may not have perceived themselves as being at an increased risk nor acknowledged a connection between severe COVID‐19 infection and type 2 diabetes. 13 In contrast, people with type 1 diabetes were significantly more affected by the pandemic and lockdown and described difficulties related to managing diabetes. 13 Another possible explanation for differences in worry between people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes may be related to younger age among those with type 1 diabetes; previous studies have shown that young people have more worries related to diabetes than older people do.…”

“… 13 In contrast, people with type 1 diabetes were significantly more affected by the pandemic and lockdown and described difficulties related to managing diabetes. 13 Another possible explanation for differences in worry between people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes may be related to younger age among those with type 1 diabetes; previous studies have shown that young people have more worries related to diabetes than older people do. 24 In addition, work plays a larger role in daily life for younger individuals, which may contribute to pandemic‐related worries, such as potential infection and challenges in managing diabetes.…”

“… 11 Individual interviews indicated that belonging to a group labelled as high‐risk disrupted participants’ identities as healthy people with type 1 diabetes. 13 …”

Interdependencies between COVID-19, Mental Illness and Living Uneasiness

“…The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a profound shift in the daily habits and representations of individuals themselves, with strong social, economic and political implications, which no one is immune to (Grabowski, Meldgaard, & Hulvej Rod, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic interferes, with higher or lower acuteness, with more or less negative and disruptive consequences, in the daily lives of individuals and differs according to the differences of their social conditions .…”

COVID-19 and Social Sciences

“…Grabowski, Meldgaard, and Hulvej Rod [10], in "Altered Self-Observations, Unclear Risk Perceptions and Changes in Relational Everyday Life: A Qualitative Study of Psychosocial Life with Diabetes during the COVID-19 Lockdown", put forth a study on the psychosocial effects of the conditions for living with a chronic disease such as diabetes in the context of a COVID-19 lockdown in the Danish context.…”