Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Department of Implementation Science, Division of Public Health, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Ethn Health. 2022 Aug;27(6):1256-1270. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2021.1910206. Epub 2021 Apr 8.
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a complicated disease that disproportionately affects African American men. Understanding the experiences of African American men living with T2DM is important for developing effective, culturally sensitive interventions. The purpose of this study was to describe how African American men view their T2DM and describe their perspectives on living with and self-managing T2DM.
In-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 African American men aged 40-85 years diagnosed with T2DM. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using NVivo 10 with thematic analysis.
Disbelief, shock, and denial were commonly experienced reactions at initial diagnosis. Many participants defined diabetes using words such as 'sugar' or 'glucose' and reported an awareness of health complications caused by diabetes, such as amputations and diabetic comas. Participants expressed various perspectives and attitudes towards having diabetes, including avoidance/apathy, fatalism, guilt and shame, fear and concern, and self-mastery. The majority of men described efforts to self-manage diabetes via glucose monitoring, changing dietary habits, and exercise. Many participants expressed concern over the financial burden associated with managing diabetes and reported that high costs can hinder a patient's ability to maintain active self-monitoring and deter patients from attending needed doctor's visits. Many participants expressed confidence in their healthcare providers, although a few expressed feelings of distrust and being uninformed. Participants tended to most appreciate physicians who spent time discussing their condition and who made an effort to engage in open patient-provider communication.
Living with diabetes can be emotionally, physically, and mentally challenging. Efforts to improve adoption and maintenance of self-management behaviors may benefit from sensitivity to the patient's attitude and perspectives towards diabetes self-management, assistance overcoming the financial burden of managing diabetes, and open patient-provider communication.
2 型糖尿病（T2DM）是一种复杂的疾病，不成比例地影响非裔美国男性。了解患有 T2DM 的非裔美国男性的经历对于开发有效、文化敏感的干预措施很重要。本研究的目的是描述非裔美国男性如何看待他们的 T2DM，并描述他们对患有 T2DM 和自我管理 T2DM 的看法。
对 22 名年龄在 40-85 岁之间被诊断患有 T2DM 的非裔美国男性进行了深入的半结构化定性访谈。使用 NVivo 10 对访谈进行转录和分析，并进行主题分析。
初次诊断时，常见的反应是怀疑、震惊和否认。许多参与者用“糖”或“葡萄糖”等词来定义糖尿病，并报告了糖尿病引起的健康并发症的意识，如截肢和糖尿病昏迷。参与者对患有糖尿病有各种看法和态度，包括回避/冷漠、宿命论、内疚和羞耻、恐惧和担忧以及自我掌控。大多数男性通过血糖监测、改变饮食习惯和锻炼来描述自我管理糖尿病的努力。许多参与者对与管理糖尿病相关的经济负担表示担忧，并报告说高成本会阻碍患者维持积极的自我监测能力，并阻止患者参加必要的医生就诊。许多参与者对他们的医疗保健提供者表示信任，尽管有少数人表示不信任和信息不足。参与者倾向于最欣赏那些花时间讨论他们病情并努力进行开放医患沟通的医生。
患有糖尿病可能会在情感、身体和心理上带来挑战。为了提高自我管理行为的采用和维持，可能需要对患者对糖尿病自我管理的态度和看法敏感，帮助克服管理糖尿病的经济负担，以及进行开放的医患沟通。
