Competing Discourses of Professional-patient Relationships in Type 2 Diabetes Management

Type 2 diabetes is a contradictory chronic illness that needs to be managed in cooperation with health care professionals. Despite the significant role of the professional-patient relationship in diabetes management, the meaning of this relationship as part of diabetes management has not yet been studied. The aim of this qualitative study is to describe the competing discourses of professional-patient relationships in type 2 diabetes management. As a background theory, the study applied the relational dialectics theory (RDT) 2.0 by analyzing discourses in patients' interpersonal communication experiences with health care professionals. Overall, 63 experiences were analyzed using contrapuntal analysis. According to the results, both the patients' positive and negative descriptions were connected to three struggling discourses: 1) having the right to care versus deserving care, 2) guidance versus control, and 3) personalization versus standardization. These discourses offered new perspectives to clarify and strengthen the role of professional-patient relationships in type 2 diabetes management.