Preventing type 2 diabetes: a qualitative study exploring the complexity of health-related practices in people with prediabetes

Journal article

Background Despite the introduction of primary care-based diabetes prevention strategies, labelling people with pre-diabetes and encouraging behaviour change, type 2 diabetes continues to rise, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Aims To examine how a pre-diabetes diagnosis influences a person's health-related practices. Design and setting In-depth qualitative study with 25 people with pre-diabetes, recruited via GP practices. Methods Narrative interviews, patient-collected data, and follow-up interviews. Theoretical analysis was informed by Bourdieu's theory of practice. Results Participants with pre-diabetes, especially those from low-income and diverse ethnic groups, often had difficulty following prescribed 'lifestyle' recommendations. An individual's habitus-that is, their embodied traits and behaviour patterns which had built up over their life-interacted with life-world influences including the expectations and health beliefs of people in their immediate social circle (e.g. partner, children, work colleagues); norms associated with wider social rituals (e.g. birthday party); and the prevailing environmental context (especially food availability and cost, influences of advertising, access to green spaces, and precarity e.g. housing insecurity). Going against social norms and expectations may risk an individual's social positioning, cultural belonging, and sometimes job security. This risk was often experienced as more salient and pressing than a hypothetical future risk of diabetes. Conclusions To improve success of diabetes prevention efforts, interventions should go beyond individual-level behavioural advice to incorporate changes to the physical, economic, social and cultural worlds which influence behavioural practices. By going against social norms 'healthy' behaviours may represent a personal social risk for some, particularly those from diverse ethnic groups.

Authors: Barry, E; Greenhalgh, T; Papoutsi, C; Shaw, SE; Ferrey, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Royal College of General Practitioners
• Journal: British Journal of General Practice
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 760
• Pages: BJGP.2025.0208-BJGP.2025.0208
• Publication date: 2025-09-15
• DOI: 10.3399/bjgp.2025.0208
• EISSN: 1478-5242
• ISSN: 0960-1643
• Language: English