Self-consciousness of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Abstract

The characteristics of self-consciousness of people with diabetes mellitus are determined by knowledge about diabetes mellitus, the signs and symptoms of acute and chronic complications, and the side effects of diabetes treatment. Knowledge plays an important role in the consciousness of behavioural change and diabetes self-management skills. People with diabetes recognize diabetes when they have experienced chronic complications, both macrovascular and microvascular. The study aims to explore how diabetics manage their chronic problems and their daily lives through a qualitative description of the experiences of 20 diabetes patients. This study used a descriptive-qualitative method, conducted a semi-structured interview, then transcribed and uploaded it into manual coding for analysis. Respondents were recruited from one of the community health centres in Jakarta, Indonesia. The themes were i) “Realizing diabetes is a  health problems that cannot be resolved alone”, paying attention to body signs becomes the beginning of self-consciousness; ii) “Coping with diabetes requires self-consciousness”, having adequate knowledge and growing personally with healthcare providers about early diabetes can prevent chronic complications. This study provides implications that self-consciousness greatly affects the self-management of diabetic patients in the long term.