Significado das experiências emocionais de pessoas com diabetes mellitus do tipo 2

Abstract

The diagnosis of diabetes disharmonizes the individual’s life and his family as it is a disease that carries symbolic meanings which can hinder emotional adaptation to the disease. The person with diabetes can show feelings such as anger, depression, fear, guilt, low self-esteem, insecurity, and non-acceptance after realizing that they lose control over their own life, assuming new life habits and changing completely a routine that was already consolidated. Based on the above, the study sought to understand the meaning of emotional experiences of people with type 2 diabetes Mellitus. This is an exploratory, descriptive study with a clinical-qualitative approach. Thirteen people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes Mellitus who were attended at the Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhão participated in the study. Data collection was carried out through a semi-structured interview, audio-recorded and literally transcribed. The sample was closed by theoretical saturation, and the technique for data processing and content analysis followed the seven steps of the clinical-qualitative method. After analysis, three categories and four subcategories emerged: Existential suffering with the subcategories – refusal of reality, uncertainty of tomorrow, altered quality of marital relationship, and change in life habits and daily dynamics; superior strength in disease control, and disease as a challenge. During the experience of living with type 2 diabetes, people seek to give meaning to their condition. The main results of this study showed that people's emotional experiences with the disease interfere in the way they relate to themselves and to other people, acknowledging the disease as something difficult and limited that often takes away the pleasures of life.