Table 3 Summary of major themes
Major themes | Brief description of the themes |
|---|---|
Susceptibility to severe complications motivates action engagement | Participants were aware of own susceptibility to severe complications that could be caused by poor blood glucose. The awareness could motivate action engagement. |
Self-management is beneficial | Self-management, which included lifestyle management, medication therapy, and blood glucose monitoring, was believed by participants to be beneficial for improving blood glucose control. The perceived benefit facilitated self-management engagement. |
Barriers to self-management engagement | Practical barriers to self-management engagement were identified. The barriers included: (1) Uselessness of general knowledge about lifestyle management; (2) Difficulty in changing unhealthy habits; (3) Temporary remission and discontinuity of medication therapy engagement; (4) Blood glucose monitoring and physical symptoms. |
Two sides of social environment | The influence of social environment on self-management engagement could be both positive and negative |
Obtaining reliable information | Providing participants with reliable information about diabetes could improve self-management engagement, while reliable information was not always available |