Health Care Utilisation among Persons with a type 2 Diabetes Mellitus a Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic condition requires Self-management to achieve

optimal glycaemic control. The utilisation of healthcare services is a critical component in diabetes self

management

Objectives:. To assess the healthcare utilisation among the people with T2DM and to explore the healthcare

utilisation practice among the people with T2DM.

Method: A mixed-method using sequential explanatory design was adopted to conduct the study. The study

was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, a cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the

quantitative data and further explored it qualitatively in phase II by thematic analysis. For Phase I and II, a

simple random and purposive sampling technique were adopted, 35 participants (Phase II) who are recruited

from the sample of 467 (Phase I).

Results: Among all participants, only 16% with T2DM had health insurance coverage. Furthermore,

complementary healthcare service consultations among these T2DM participants were low 28.3 % the

participants had an inadequate score of healthcare service utilisation. The qualitative data analysis in phase

II generated three themes which are “Information driven healthcare utilisation”, “Health Care Utilisation in

the dependent” and “Constraints vs Solutions”.

Conclusion: diabetes self-management Education (DSME), employee staff welfare, patient-centred hospital/

clinic management, positive attitudes of healthcare professionals and employees supportive policies for the

utilisation of healthcare services, would facilitate the optimal use of healthcare services by individuals with

T2DM.