TYPE 1 DIABETES AND EMOTIONAL LABOUR IN YOUNG ADULTS: INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Existing scholarship on the intersection of T1 diabetes management, its accompanying psychosocial challenges, and mental health repercussions informs my work, which examines whether young adults with T1 diabetes experience emotional labour, and if the concept can deepen understandings of living with diabetes. Current research shows that emotional labour has not been applied to transitioning youth with T1 diabetes, though it has been employed in other disciplines to explore the experiences of racially marginalized groups. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, I identified themes that constituted sources of emotional labour, as participants readily understood emotional labour to be inherent to diabetes management. The over-expenditure of emotional labour suggests profound implications for mental health outcomes and diabetes distress levels, and participant experiences revealed institutionally imbedded ableism that elicited even further expenditure of emotional labour. Research findings suggest that reconsideration of educational frameworks and praxis within diabetes healthcare may alleviate emotional labour and diabetes distress.