Managing Diabetes in the Digital Age: Patients’ Paradoxical Tensions and Coping Strategies in the use of mHealth for Diabetes Self-Management
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2024-07-02
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en
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Diabetes is a chronic disease that is rapidly growing and a substantial amount of healthcare resources are addressed to it. mHealth could be a solution in the management of diabetes since it improves the self-management of the disease. Therefore, this study answers the question of how diabetes patients experience the use of mHealth and how they manage these experiences. To find out qualitative research was conducted. Eleven respondents were interviewed, resulting in three paradoxical tensions and four coping mechanisms. The paradoxical tensions that have been identified, are ‘integration vs disintegration’, ‘efficiency vs inefficiency’, and ‘feeling of empowerment vs feeling of being controlled’. These paradoxes trigger both positive and negative emotions, such as confidence, comfort, frustration, and panic. To ensure that negative feelings diminish, respondents use various coping mechanisms. Four coping mechanisms have been detected: discontinuing, assuming responsibility, ignoring, and improving skills. Next to the paradoxes and the coping mechanisms, we can conclude that the respondents are extremely satisfied with the different applications they use and have the intention to continue their usage. The use of mobile health apps has both mental as practical benefits, such as more stable blood glucose levels and feeling more energetic and confident
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen