Experience of Telephone-Based Diabetes Health Coaching Among Community-Based Adults With Type 2 Diabetes.

Sugumaran, Tharshika; LeGris, Jeannette; Strachan, Patricia H.; Alliston, Paige; Sherifali, Diana

Background: In the past decade, diabetes health coaching, also referred to as diabetes coaching, has emerged as a patient-centered intervention to help individuals with type 2 diabetes gain independence with self-management. This study explores the perceived experience of receiving telephone-based diabetes health coaching among adults living with type 2 diabetes. Method: A qualitative exploration with an interpretive descriptive design was carried out. Participants from the intervention group of a larger randomized controlled trial who had received a telephone-based diabetes coaching intervention throughout 1 year were invited to participate in a telephone interview with open-ended questions. Results: Twelve participants were interviewed, and four major themes emerged: 1) adapting to ongoing challenges with type 2 diabetes, reflecting how coaching helped individuals integrate diabetes into their daily lives by addressing misconceptions, improving knowledge, encouraging awareness, and easing the transition from oral medication to insulin injections; 2) heightened mindfulness of diabetes-related wellness, capturing the greater attention participants gave to their overall well-being and self-management behaviors; 3) behavior change guided by the participant, highlighting the differences in participants' motivation, readiness to make changes, and external factors that influenced their ability to make self-management behavior changes; and 4) valuing a supportive relationship, illustrating that most participants felt that the unique coach-client relationship was reliable, holistic, nonjudgmental, and encouraging. Conclusion: Participants found diabetes coaching to be positive and highlighted the various ways it was able to support their ability to manage diabetes.

ONTARIO; PATIENT education; HEALTH literacy; MOTIVATIONAL interviewing; INDEPENDENT living; RESEARCH funding; QUALITATIVE research; SELF-management (Psychology); INTERVIEWING; MINDFULNESS; HEALTH; PLANNED behavior theory; FIELD notes (Science); JUDGMENT sampling; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; TELEMEDICINE; MOTIVATION (Psychology); SOUND recordings; THEMATIC analysis; TYPE 2 diabetes; RESEARCH methodology; PATIENT-professional relations; HEALTH promotion; PATIENTS' attitudes; DIABETES; ADULTS; MIDDLE age; OLD age

Diabetes Spectrum, 2024, Vol 37, Issue 4, p360

1040-9165

Academic Journal

10.2337/ds23-0046