Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication
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The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
2008
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1206124180 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu12061241802021-08-03T05:53:34Z Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication McGrew, Cat Communication Communication Diabetes Interpersonal Communication Talking Problematic Integration The unrelenting demands of diabetes self-care, fluctuating glucose levels and critical glucose events make diabetes salient in the social life of individuals living with diabetes. Thus, everyday talk about diabetes is implicated as a critical site for investigation. This study employed an interpretive communication framework with four components: reasoning about the diabetes future (analyzed through the lens of Problematic Integration), willingness to talk about diabetes or fear of disclosure, diabetes-related, emotional social support, and perceived alignment on conversations about diabetes. Outcomes examined were diabetes distress, diabetes empowerment and life satisfaction. Participants included 175 individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, located through convenience sampling across physical and virtual communities. The sample was a relatively homogenous group except for age and years with diabetes. Ages ranged from 18 to 73 and years with diabetes ranged from a few months to 68 years. In a triangulated design participants completed open-ended and scaled questions related to a meaningful, recalled conversation with one other person. The analyses controlled for health status and the time elapsed since the conversation. Findings included the conversation topics, which ranged from the everyday self-care regimen to more complex topics of critical diabetes events, complications, psychological burden or relationship issues. Participants displayed four different reasoning types about their diabetes future: complications are possible but risk may be influenced by self-care, complications are inevitable, acceptance of the impossibility of knowing whether complications will arise and a general optimism not oriented to complications as a future. Two forms of reasoning were associated with distress, empowerment and life satisfaction. A hierarchical coding system for perceived alignment was developed; higher alignment was associated with greater empowerment and life satisfaction. Evaluations of the conversation as achieving mutual understanding and being more person-centered were positively associated with empowerment and life satisfaction. Person-centeredness was also negatively associated with distress. Social support predicted greater empowerment and life satisfaction; fear of disclosure predicted greater distress and less empowerment. Overall, findings display the constitutive nature of everyday communication and demonstrate important relationships between communication dimensions and psychosocial diabetes outcomes. 2008-04-15 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1206124180 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1206124180 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Communication Communication Diabetes Interpersonal Communication Talking Problematic Integration |
| spellingShingle |
Communication Communication Diabetes Interpersonal Communication Talking Problematic Integration McGrew, Cat Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication |
| author |
McGrew, Cat |
| author_facet |
McGrew, Cat |
| author_sort |
McGrew, Cat |
| title |
Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication |
| title_short |
Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication |
| title_full |
Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication |
| title_fullStr |
Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Living with Diabetes: The value of everyday communication |
| title_sort |
living with diabetes: the value of everyday communication |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2008 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1206124180 |
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AT mcgrewcat livingwithdiabetesthevalueofeverydaycommunication |
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