“My problems aren’t their fault”: Mexican American women managing diabetes while caring for grandchildren

ABSTRACT

Diabetes affects many aspects of family life for the Mexican American (MA) population. Caregiving grandmothers, the traditional family nurturers, are often simultaneously managing their type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe the perceptions of MA grandmothers managing T2DM while caring for a grandchild. Eight participants were interviewed. Participants consistently reported feeling a personal responsibility for their T2DM self-management as well as for the health and wellbeing of their families, including their grandchildren. Regardless of associated caregiving stress, grandchildren were described as the main source of positive motivation for T2DM self-management.

KEYWORDS:

• Diabetes mellitus
• type 2
• grandparents
• Mexican Americans
• caregivers
• intergenerational relations

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our research assistant, Anel E. Arriola, and volunteer, Rosía Lita Morales, for their valuable contributions to this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a scholarship from Sigma Theta Tau International Beta Mu Chapter [Nancy Melvin Scholarship].