Identifying Experiential Expertise to Support People With Diabetes Mellitus in Applying for and Participating Effectively in Paid Work: A Qualitative Study

Objective: Identifying and describing successful diabetes-related (SDR) behaviors from reports by experiential experts to support people with diabetes in applying for and participating effectively in paid work. Methods: Data were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with experiential experts with diabetes (N=41). Results: A comprehensive set of SDR behaviors that can help people with diabetes apply for and participate in paid work. The most important factors were reported to be the ability to anticipate problems in job applications, effective self-management activities to prevent and/or respond to hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia at work, informing relevant others in the workplace, and successfully negotiating with employers about adjustments to work conditions. Conclusions: A set of work-related SDR behaviors was identified. After validation by experiential experts and professionals, these could be translated into recommendations and tested in experiments in selfmanagement programs.