Transformational Experience of a Student Nurse with Diabetes: A Case Study

Choi, Hye Jung; Hong, Young Sang

Abstract

PURPOSE: The current study was aimed to investigate the transformational experience of a female student nurse living with type 1 diabetes.
METHODS
A case study of a 24-year-old diabetes patient was conducted, with interviews concerning the evolving process she had lived through during the period from her later high school years to her graduation from nursing college.
RESULTS
Followings were identified as 5-transformation process: With her diabetes-related limitation, the participant experienced 'conflict involving choosing a college and major'. The participant tried to be in charge of managing her diabetes and stepped forward to 'adaptation to college life as a new environment', and she learned more about the process of 'evolving awareness of caring' and developed herself further through the process of 'integration of the nurse identity into self-identity', and finally through the process of 'progression and preparation for getting a job' she achieved her goals, being positive about the future.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of the study can provide individuals with diabetes a way of self-management and help the patients and their families in diabetes education. Further research will be needed to refine the results of this study and to learn more about the experiences of patients with type I diabetes in college years.