Self-care is Renouncement, Routine, and Control: The Experience of Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus can cause serious complications; it has a severe impact on the quality of life and high costs. One of the key strategies to manage diabetes is self-care, a complex multifactorial process influenced by personal, cultural, and systemic factors, that comprises self-care maintenance, self-care monitoring, and self-care management. Few patients perform adequate self-care. To deepen our understanding of patients’ experiences of self-care maintenance, self-care monitoring, and self-care management, we conducted the first qualitative study on this topic. This study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, informed by the Middle-range Theory of Self-care of Chronic Illness, to explore the experience and meaning of self-care maintenance, self-care monitoring, and self-care management in adults with T2DM (n = 10). Three themes were identified: self-care is renouncement, self-care is routine, and self-care is control. A cross-cutting moral pattern connects the three themes. Our findings corroborate the Middle-range Theory of Self-care of Chronic Illness in the field of diabetes self-care and could inform practitioners in understanding the experience of self-care as a complex phenomenon and in developing tailored interventions.