Everyday life of a family with diabetes as described by adults with type 1 diabetes

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease. According to previous research, family has an important role in the management of diabetes among children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to describe how adult people with type 1 diabetes experience everyday life in their families. The Straussian grounded theory method was used to analyse data collected by interviewing 19 people with type 1 diabetes. On the basis of the data, eight concepts describing different views on everyday living with diabetes were generated: managing hypoglycaemia; balancing self‐management needs; performing daily routines in the family; living with changing feelings; diabetes being invisibly present; protecting the family's well‐being; the family members variously contributing to the self‐management; and learning to live with diabetes in the family. In conclusion, everyday life in families includes many different issues and family members are involved in the self‐management of diabetes in many ways. In the interests of developing family‐centred education and care, it is important to understand how adult people with type 1 diabetes experience everyday life within their families. Eur Diabetes Nursing 2013; 10(3): 86–90

Couples living with type 1 diabetes: An integrative review of the impacts on health and wellbeing

“…In an online survey of 317 T1D partners, their reported relationship quality was similar to that in the general population (Polonsky et al, 2016). Initially, understanding the condition and knowledge of the self-management required to live well with diabetes paved the way for partners to support the PWD (Johnson and Melton, 2015;Rajaram, 1997;Rintala, 2017).…”

“…Trief et al (2017) reported that having an engaged partner was associated with better glycemic control (β = 0.13, p< 0.01) and self-care such as concordance with general diet (β = 0.22, p< 0.001) and exercise (β = 0.28, p< 0.01) (Trief et al, 2017). T1D partners supported self-management behaviours by reminding the PWD of blood glucose measurements (Rintala, 2017), encouraging exercise and supporting healthy eating habits for the whole family (Rajaram, 1997;Rintala et al, 2013b). To further support self-management, T1D partners in some cases bought the insulin and blood glucose testing materials (Barnard et al, 2016;Rintala et al, 2013b).…”

Experiences of being a family member to an older person with diabetes receiving home care services

“…Family caregivers provide a wide range of assistance to the old person , and for the participants in the present study, diabetes self‐management was described as involving the measuring of blood glucose level, administering insulin and tablets, and reminding the old person of the importance of eating when blood glucose levels decreased. That family members assist with daily management is rather common . However, our findings highlight that family members of older people with diabetes have trouble in getting the older persons to participate in actions to achieve proper and secure self‐management with increasing health problems.…”

Narrative inquiry in diabetes research: Illuminating the psychosocial aspects of diabetes

“…Diabetes research has primarily used quantitative surveys [35], focus groups [28,36], and interviews [37] to understand the psychosocial aspects of illness experience and self-care. Surveys provide useful information about variables and concepts but lack connections and context from the patient's point of view.…”