P-39 Barriers to Diabetes Self-Management in Grenada During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Methods: This study adopted a qualitative methodology and a descriptive phenomenological approach to better understand the experiences of diabetes self-management practices during the lockdown period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 participants with type 2 diabetes in Grenada over two months. Patterns emerging from the data were identified systematically through the inductive generation of codes from the data using qualitaive software. Codes with similar meanings or relationships were grouped, and links between categories and themes were established.

Results: Ten categories were identified, which were then grouped into two overarching themes: 1) environmental factors and 2) personal factors. Environmental factors like high costs, limited access to resources, COVID restrictions, and lack of support from family and friends were notable barriers. Personal factors like negative attitudes, worry and concern, personal beliefs and values, underlying health conditions, and perceived behavioral control toward self-management were also significant barriers.

Conclusion: This study contributes to an understanding and fills the gap in current knowledge relating to diabetes selfmanagement practices during the COVID-19 lockdown. Findings indicated that several personal and environmental barriers significantly affected adherence to self-management during the pandemic across the five self-management behaviors. The findings may be used to develop a multidisciplinary approach to improve self-management skills and attitudes and promote appropriate diabetes disaster planning for future pandemics. Addressing those barriers to diabetes self-management will improve health outcomes and quality of life.