Women’s distinct diabetes self-management behaviours demand gender-specific diabetes research: improving chronic disease management and addressing clinical governance issues
Tracey Oorschot 1 4 , Jon Adams 1 , Sofianos Andrikopoulos 2 3 , David Sibbritt 1
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
1 School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
2 Australian Diabetes Society, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.
3 Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.
4 Corresponding author. Email: tracey.oorschot@uts.edu.au
Journal of Primary Health Care 13(4) 308-312 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC21015
Published: 23 December 2021
Journal Compilation © Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners 2021 This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
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.
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