How public perceive diabetes: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Diabetes has a high prevalence in Iran, and its incidence is estimated to increase from 3.5 million adults in 2005 to 5.1 million by 2025. Given the high prevalence of diabetes in Iranians, it is surprising that little is known about understanding of diabetes in the general population. This study aimed to explore how people without diabetes interpreted the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted as a qualitative content analysis, using unstructured and in-depth interviews, with the participation of 21 individuals without diabetes (13 women and 8 men), 18-61 years old, who were selected for this purpose from the cities of Isfahan and Tehran from October 2010 to May 2011. The data were analyzed using latent content analysis method. RESULTS: The participants had different beliefs and ideas about diabetes and most of them gave a negative and black image of diabetes. Although a small number of individuals considered diabetes better than AIDS and cancer, they often took diabetes as blackness, end of romances, and a gradual death. CONCLUSION: However, the study sample was small. The findings show that the participants’ perspective on diabetes is negative and destructive. It seems shaping a new identity in the path of empowerment could be difficult within the social and cultural context. These findings can give an insight to health care providers to realize how important it is to find the public perception about diabetes. They are responsible to change or modify the public view on diabetes by introducing the disease with the help of prominent people and educating individuals in the society on all aspects of living with diabetes, not simply the symptoms and disabilities it brings along.