Secondary analysis of perceptions and meanings of type 2 diabetes among Mexican American women

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore explanatory models of diabetes from the perspective of Mexican American women with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted in a secondary analysis of an interpretive interactionism study to investigate the meanings of diabetes from the perspectives of Mexican American women with type 2 diabetes. The sensitizing concept used was Kleinman's explanatory models of illness. The original study sample included 20 Mexican American women between the ages of 27 and 45 with varying lengths of time since diagnosis. RESULTS: Data analysis was an interactive process. The data were collapsed into explanatory models of diabetes categorized as defining, getting, having, describing, or taking care of diabetes. The meaning of having diabetes was viewed as a life threat with complications and a shortened life. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes complications, viewed as symptoms, were structured in the explanatory models developed from the contextual arenas of family and community. Given the family and community history of diabetes, genetic predisposition to the disease, and perceived life threat, understanding Mexican American women's explanatory models about diabetes serves as a basis for negotiating therapeutic interventions.