Women's distinct diabetes self-management behaviours demand gender-specific diabetes research: improving chronic disease management and addressing clinical governance issues.

Abstract

Management of diabetes mellitus continues to pose challenges for primary health-care professionals, with estimates of as many as 2 million Australians requiring ongoing care. Although most cases are men, women living with diabetes have presenting concerns and self-management characteristics distinct from men. A threat to women's optimal diabetes management is being at greater risk of developing mental health conditions, especially for women with insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes. In addition, complementary medicine use is highly prevalent among women and is associated with significant direct and indirect risks, which raises clinical governance issues. To date, limited gender-specific diabetes research exists that has explored women's diabetes self-management behaviours and risk profiles. We argue that this is essential to inform the design of targeted care approaches that address clinical governance issues and help health-care professionals to better support women living with diabetes.

• Authors: Tracey Oorschot, Jon Adams, Sofianos Andrikopoulos, David Sibbritt
• Journal: Journal of primary health care (J Prim Health Care) Vol. 13 Issue 4 Pg. 308-312 (Dec 2021) ISSN: 1172-6156 [Electronic] Australia
• PMID: 34937641 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• Australia
• Clinical Governance
• Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 (therapy)
• Disease Management
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Self-Management