Taking a Pause: Co-Designing a Reflection Tool for Meaning Creation in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to explore how the design of a self-reflection tool can assist patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) by facilitating and sustaining their reflective practices in the context of diabetes care. Specifically, the study seeks to examine how patients utilize self-reflection tools, identify aspects they feel improve diabetes management, and uncover the opportunities and challenges they encounter when integrating such tools into their daily lives.

METHODS

The research involved two phases: first, the preliminary development of a self-reflection tool prototype and second, the exploration of user experience. During the second phase, five patients with T2D participated in three interview sessions bi-weekly over the period of 6 weeks. The interviews were transcribed and thematically coded, and affinity diagramming was then used to synthesize the data.

RESULTS

Four main themes emerged from the interviews. The designed self-reflection tool was found to have the potential to enhance participants' motivation for engaging in diabetes management by improving diabetes management, initiating self-reflection, facilitating new thoughts and meanings, and providing opportunities for the patients to share their reflections.

CONCLUSIONS

The designed self-reflection tool helped patients with T2D by encouraging them to adopt a more positive mindset and supporting them in addressing challenges related to their diabetes management. The study suggests that there is promising potential for the self-reflection tool to evolve into a reflection-sharing tool that can be shared with other patients.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Participants with T2D took part in the designed interviews, and their experiences and comments meaningfully contributed to enriching the co-design of the self-reflection tool. The suggested potential for this tool to be expanded into a reflection-sharing tool is also significant.