Adults living with Type 1 diabetes experienced transformation as an evolving process of responding to illness related challenges and as an outcome of a differentiation of self and body
QUESTION: How and why does the phenomenon of transformation occur in the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes?
Design
Emergent design based on grounded theory.
Setting
British Columbia, Canada.
Participants
22 people (age range 24–81 y, 64% women, all white) who were ≥18 years of age, had Type 1 diabetes for ≥15 years, spoke English, and lived in British Columbia. All participants were competent in diabetes self care management and had good glycaemic control.
Methods
Data were collected over 2 years. For 3 one week periods, participants recorded decisions they made about diabetes related issues (eg, insulin, skin care) as they were made, using handheld, voice activated tape recorders. Participants were also interviewed at recruitment and within 1 week of each think-aloud recording session (total of four 2 hour interviews). Finally, 2 hour focus groups of 5–8 participants were held to share the findings and to verify the researchers' interpretations.
Main findings
Participants defined transformation as “'a profound new awareness of what you could be'… in an ongoing …
