Lived Experience of People with Type 1 Diabetes in North East Ethiopia; Psycho-Social and Economical Perspective, a Phenomenological Study

OBJECTIVE: To explore lived experience of people with type 1 diabetes in North East Ethiopia; psycho-social and economical perspective. METHODS: A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experience of people with type 1 diabetes in North East Ethiopia; psycho-social and economical perspective from March 02 to March 25, 2020. A heterogeneous purposive sample method was used to choose the participants. The lead investigator used an in-depth interview to collect data, using an audio recorder and an interview guide. The data were analysed using the thematic analysis method. Atlas. ti software version 7 was used to facilitate the data analysis process. RESULTS: A total of 13 participants were enrolled in this study. The participants age range were 14 to 70 years and their duration of diabetes since diagnosis were from 8 months to 16 years. The three interconnected themes that emerged from the analysis are: (1) psychological experience with two sub-themes (psychological problems due to diabetes including fear and coping strategies for psychological problems), (2) social experience, which has five categories (influence on intimate relationships, influence on social participation, disclosure status, social isolation and stigma, social support, and influence on education); and (3) economic experience. CONCLUSION: Fear was one of the psychological experiences felt by people with type 1 diabetes. Although type 1 diabetes is a biomedical problem, it is also accompanied by other psychological and socio-economic issues, that require a holistic approach to address it. So, health professionals should strengthen health information dissemination programs.