Diabetes distress in Veterans with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Qualitative descriptive study.

Abstract

Diabetes distress (DD) is a negative psychosocial response to living with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We sought insight into Veterans' experiences with DD in the context of T2DM self-management. The four domains in the Diabetes Distress Scale (i.e. regimen, emotional, interpersonal, healthcare provider) informed the interview guide and analysis (structural coding using thematic analysis). The mean age of the cohort (n = 36) was 59.1 years (SD 10.4); 8.3% of patients were female and 63.9% were Black or Mixed Race; mean A1C was 8.8% (SD 2.0); and mean DDS score was 2.4 (SD 1.1), indicating moderate distress. Veterans described DD and challenges to T2DM self-management across the four domains in the Diabetes Distress Scale. We found that (1) Veterans' challenges with their T2DM self-management routines influenced DD and (2) Veterans experienced DD across a wide range of domains, indicating that clinical interventions should take a "whole-person" approach.Trial Registration: NCT04587336.

Department

Description

Provenance

Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1177/13591053241233387

Publication Info

Lewinski, Allison A, Abigail Shapiro, Matthew J Crowley, Chelsea Whitfield, Joanne Roman Jones, Amy S Jeffreys, Cynthia J Coffman, Teresa Howard, et al. (2024). Diabetes distress in Veterans with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Qualitative descriptive study. Journal of health psychology. p. 13591053241233387. 10.1177/13591053241233387 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/30219.

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Scholars@Duke

Lewinski

Allison A. Lewinski

Associate Research Professor in the School of Nursing

As a nurse scientist and health services researcher, with a joint appointment between the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) and the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VHA), I have acquired expertise in the areas of diabetes distress, qualitative research methods, and virtual care (e.g., telehealth, digital health) as a method of care delivery. My research focuses on the current and potential ability of virtual care interventions to reduce distress, improve self-management, increase access to evidence-based care delivery, and improve patient and population health outcomes. My collaborative and interdisciplinary research focuses on how patient-, provider-, and system-level factors influence virtual care use and outcomes. As evidence of its growing significance and impact at DUSON and the VHA, my work has been well funded, published in high-impact journals, presented at select conferences, and used to guide health system decision-making. I am a sought-after teacher and mentor because I connect my research interests to teaching students and mentees rigorous and systematic research approaches. I am frequently asked by local and national colleagues to provide guidance on distress, qualitative research methods, and virtual care approaches used in grants, projects, and manuscripts.  

My research contributions have focused on alleviating psychosocial distress, developing and implementing multi-level virtual care interventions, and enhancing qualitative methods. As a staff nurse, I witnessed the psychosocial distress of patients who experience challenges in obtaining care which led to my interest in diabetes distress. I aspire and work to improve health outcomes for individuals with chronic illness by developing equitable and sustainable multi-level virtual care interventions and assessing their implementation and adaptation. Virtual care describes any remote interaction between a patient and/or members of their care team. To achieve these goals, I use qualitative methods and implementation science approaches to enhance alignment between patient, modality, disease state, and social and environmental context; my collective assessments address for whom and what purposes, in what situations and contexts, when in a disease course or clinical activity, and in what specific ways such interventions are effective. My focus on the uptake and adoption of virtual care to address psychosocial distress considers interactions with patients, between patients and clinicians, and within health care systems and the larger population.

Crowley

Matthew Janik Crowley

Associate Professor of Medicine

Diabetes, Hypertension, Health Services Research

Coffman

Cynthia Jan Coffman

Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
McConnell

Eleanor Schildwachter McConnell

Associate Professor in the School of Nursing

Dr. McConnell's program of research focuses on factors that influence functional decline in very frail older adults. She has been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a series of studies designed to identify modifiable risk factors for worsening self-care disability in long-stay nursing home residents with chronic cognitive impairment. She has also developed and tested a variety of interventions to modify risk factors for worsening disability.  Her research builds upon existing knowledge of the bio-physical determinants of disability as conceptualized in the Nagi Disablement Model. Dr. McConnell's academic interests include frailty in the aged, the role of the environment in promoting function, and the conduct and testing of nursing interventions to prevent decline in those with chronic illness. 

Tanabe

Paula J Tanabe

Laurel Chadwick Distinguished Professor of Nursing

Dr. Tanabe is the Laurel B. Chadwick Distinguished Professor in the Schools of Nursing and Medicine at Duke at the Duke University School of Nursing. Dr. Tanabe is a clinical and health services researcher. Her program of research focuses on improving systems of healthcare and patient outcomes for persons with sickle cell disease, a primarily minority and under-served population. Dr. Tanabe has received funding from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the National Institute of Heart, Lung, and Blood, National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Nursing Research. Her work is advancing the care of individuals with sickle cell disease with a strong focus on improving pain management in the emergency department during a vaso-occlusive crisis. Her methodological expertise includes conducting multi-site clinical RCT’s, survey methods, qualitative research, quality improvement and implementation science. Dr. Tanabe has a strong passion for her work, individuals with sickle cell disease, and for mentoring students and faculty to conduct important, meaningful work to improve the health and well being of individuals and families.

Bosworth

Hayden Barry Bosworth

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Dr. Bosworth is a health services researcher and Deputy Director of the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT)  at the Durham VA Medical Center. He is also Vice Chair of Education and Professor of Population Health Sciences. He is also a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Nursing at Duke University Medical Center and Adjunct Professor in Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests comprise three overarching areas of research: 1) clinical research that provides knowledge for improving patients’ treatment adherence and self-management in chronic care; 2) translation research to improve access to quality of care; and 3) eliminate health care disparities. 

Dr. Bosworth is the recipient of an American Heart Association established investigator award, the 2013 VA Undersecretary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research (The annual award is the highest honor for VA health services researchers), and a VA Senior Career Scientist Award. In terms of self-management, Dr. Bosworth has expertise developing interventions to improve health behaviors related to hypertension, coronary artery disease, and depression, and has been developing and implementing tailored patient interventions to reduce the burden of other chronic diseases. These trials focus on motivating individuals to initiate health behaviors and sustaining them long term and use members of the healthcare team, particularly pharmacists and nurses. He has been the Principal Investigator of over 30 trials resulting in over 400 peer reviewed publications and four books. This work has been or is being implemented in multiple arenas including Medicaid of North Carolina, private payers, The United Kingdom National Health System Direct, Kaiser Health care system, and the Veterans Affairs.

Areas of Expertise: Health Behavior, Health Services Research, Implementation Science, Health Measurement, and Health Policy


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