The psychosocial effects of living with type 1 diabetes : A literature review

Abstract: Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is an incurable, widespread disease increasing globally. 2017 there were 425 million people with the diagnosis, and circa 10% of these have type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is a disease which requires a lot of self-management. Living with a chronic disease may impact the patient’s mental and psychosocial health. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to describe how living with type 1 diabetes mellitus may affect the patient’s psychosocial health.  Method: The study was conducted as a literature review using Polit and Beck’s (2017) nine steps. Data was collected using two databases, PubMed and CINAHL. The articles chosen were critiqued according to Polit and Beck’s (2017, p. 102-109) “Guide to an Overall Critique of a Qualitative Research Report” and “Guide to an Overall Critique of a Quantitative Research Report”. Twelve articles in total were chosen for the result, six quantitative and six qualitative.  Results: Two main themes and seven subthemes were developed based on the results. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals did not take these patients’ psychosocial health into consideration. Many patients also felt that they could not self-manage their disease in public due to others’ perception of them. This could result in complications.