Continuous glucose monitoring empowers adolescents to take responsibility of diabetes management

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Continuous glucose monitoring empowers adolescents to take responsibility of diabetes management
 
Creator Williams, Letitia Deacon, Elmarí Van Rensburg, Esmé Segal, David
 
Subject Health psychology; primary health care; education adolescents; continuous glucose monitoring (CGM); empowerment; illness perception; diabetes management.
Description Background: Managing diabetes is especially challenging for adolescents, and they often struggle to believe they can manage the condition. Illness perception has been widely associated with better diabetes management outcomes, but the influence of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) on adolescents has been largely neglected.Aim: The study aimed to explore the illness perception of a group of adolescents living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) using CGM.Setting: The study was conducted at a medical centre that provides diabetes care services to youth living with T1D in Parktown, South Africa.Methods: A qualitative research approach using semi-structured online interviews was used to gather data that was thematically analysed.Results: Themes emerging from the data confirmed that CGM creates a sense of control over diabetes management as blood glucose measures were more visible. A sense of normalcy was established as CGM influences a new routine and a way of life, integrating diabetes into a young person’s identity. Despite the users’ awareness of being different due to diabetes management, CGM assisted in creating a sense of belonging, contributing to developing a better quality of life.Conclusion: Findings of this study support the use of CGM as a means of empowering adolescents struggling with diabetes management to achieve better treatment outcomes. The important role of illness perception in facilitating this change was also evident.Contribution: By listening to the adolescent’s voice, CGM was identified as a possible intervention to empower adolescents to improve diabetes management.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2023-04-12
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v15i1.3879
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 15, No 1 (2023); 6 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3879/6164 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3879/6165 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3879/6166 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3879/6167
 
Coverage Africa; South Africa; Gauteng; Parktown — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Letitia Williams, Elmarí Deacon, Esmé Van Rensburg, David Segal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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