Contextualizing Experiences of Diabetes-Related Stress in Rural Dominican Republic

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is changing the burden of disease across Latin America. In this formative, qualitative study, we explored experiences of T2D diagnosis and management among adults in rural Dominican Republic. We conducted 28 in-depth interviews (12 men, 16 women) and used inductive analysis to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inQualitative health research Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 857 - 867
Main Authors Gonzalez Rodriguez, Humberto, Wallace, Deshira D., Barrington, Clare
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2019
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Aged
Clinical outcomes
Coping
Coping strategies
Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - psychology
Dominican Republic
Drugs
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health promotion
Health status
Health technology assessment
Healthy food
Humans
Injuries
Interviews as Topic
Male
Medical diagnosis
Middle Aged
Qualitative research
Rural communities
Rural Population
Stress
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Dominican Republic
stress
qualitative
Dominican Republic
formative
diabetes
rural health
coping
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is changing the burden of disease across Latin America. In this formative, qualitative study, we explored experiences of T2D diagnosis and management among adults in rural Dominican Republic. We conducted 28 in-depth interviews (12 men, 16 women) and used inductive analysis to explore the emotional burden of T2D and identify coping strategies. We found that stress relating to T2D began at diagnosis and persisted throughout management. Stress was produced by concerns about healthy food and medication access, fears about illness-induced injury, and the cyclical process of experiencing stress. Participants identified diabetes care and free medication services as external stress-reducers. Internally, participants’ mitigated stress by not thinking about diabetes (“no dar mente”). Our study highlights the importance of a contextualized understanding of diabetes-related stress and the need for individual, clinic, and community-level interventions to reduce stressors and improve health outcomes among adults with T2D.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732318807207