Everyday objects and spaces: How they afford resilience in diabetes routines

Thirty million Americans currently have diabetes, and a substantial portion do not reach the goals of clinical treatment. This is in part due to the complex barriers to effective self-care faced by people with diabetes. This study uses a patient work perspective, focusing on the everyday, lived experience of managing diabetes. Our primary research goal was to explore how the work of self-care is embedded in the other routines of everyday living. We found that everyday objects and spaces were instrumental in the incorporation of diabetes work into daily routines. Objects anchored diabetes tasks by linking illness-specific artifacts to space and time (e.g. a morning routine), and by enabling the performance on diabetes tasks while on the move in either planned or unplanned ways. •Diabetes self-care is a challenge in the U.S.; many people do not meet treatment goals.•Everyday objects and spaces can enhance the resilience of a patient's illness routines.•Using objects and spaces to blend cultural routines with self-care tasks is a resilience strategy.