The fear associated with insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring is often overlooked in clinical practice. Although patients are fully aware of the importance of insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring, fear can significantly reduce their treatment compliance, and the resulting psychological and behavioral changes may further exacerbate this negative impact. Therefore, it is imperative to employ qualitative research to thoroughly explore the patterns of patients’ psychological feelings and behavioral changes. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of psychological feelings and behavioral changes in patients with a fear of insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring, thereby providing a scientific basis for improving their self-management abilities. This study adopted a phenomenological approach within the framework of qualitative research. The participants were patients with a fear of insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring. Data were collected through semi-structured, face-to-face, in-depth interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi’s 7-step analysis method combined with microanalysis. Four themes emerged that reflected the psychological feelings and behavioral manifestations of patients with a fear of insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring: “worry–fear and behavioral imbalance,” “denial–resistance and activation of defense mechanisms,” “anxiety–irritability and depletion of self-efficacy,” and “compromise–acceptance and establishment of adaptive behaviors.” The emotional states of patients with a fear of insulin injections and blood glucose monitoring exhibited regular phase changes, each accompanied by corresponding behavioral characteristics. Therefore, in clinical practice, medical educators should develop differentiated intervention and correction strategies based on the emotional and behavioral characteristics of patients in different phases.
Zhang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.