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Culturally-Competent Diabetes Self-Management Intervention using Biomedical Technologies: Patient Focus Groups

DescriptionDiabetes is one of the leading preventable causes of death within the United States, with roughly 11.6% of the population in the US having diabetes. Technological solutions can be explored to ease the burden of diabetes self management, however little is known about contributing factors to patient adoption and sustained use of such technologies in underserved populations. This study aims to describe factors that promote and hinder diabetes self-management with health technology and elicit community member’s preferences towards a novel diabetes self-management intervention. A total of 51 participants diagnosed with various conditional types of diabetes were recruited and participated across five focus groups of various sizes. The transcribed focus group sessions were de-identified and underwent thematic analysis. Through this process four major themes emerged: perceived barriers to self-management, barrier mitigation strategies, self-management support with technology, and social support. Within each theme identified there were further explored sub themes that expanded upon the specific thoughts and challenges patients experienced when using self-management technologies. Our findings indicate that diabetes, regardless of conditional diagnosis, may experience issues with self-management care programs, support systems targeting financial assistance, educational needs, and mental/emotional challenges may promote Diabetes self-management program enrollment.

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