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Stigma, Self-Care, and Intuitive Eating in Black Americans with Type 2 Diabetes

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Abstract

Type 2 diabetes is prevalent among Black Americans. Stigma associated with type 2 diabetes, both in general and specific to weight, is damaging to self-care, which is crucial for the effective management of diabetes. Family relationships may buffer the negative impact of stress, especially among Black Americans who have historically relied on informal support networks. Our goal was to investigate how type 2 diabetes stigma (H1) and weight stigma (H2) were related to self-care and intuitive eating – a non-restrictive approach to nutrition; H3 predicted that family relationship satisfaction would moderate the relationships predicted in H1 and H2. Black Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (N = 225) were recruited via Qualtrics panels to complete an online survey of self-report measures. We used multiple linear regression to test our hypotheses. Both chronic illness and weight stigma were related as predicted to one subscale of intuitive eating (eating for physical hunger). Our moderation analyses revealed that family relationship satisfaction was protective against the harms of stigma at moderate to high levels. Intuitive eating is a promising non-restrictive treatment option for type 2 diabetes.

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Data Availability

The data are not publicly available in accordance with the human subjects research agreement at the governing institution. Please contact the corresponding author with questions about access to the dataset.

Notes

  1. To qualify for this study, participants had to identify as Black or African American. We use the term “Black American” to be inclusive across individuals in our sample, noting that there are limitations in our inability to contextualize our findings based on more specific racial or ethnic identities.

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Funding

This work was supported by a Faculty Research Grant awarded by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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  1. Department of Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA

    Erin D. Basinger, Shanice Jones Cameron & Gracie Allen

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  1. Erin D. Basinger
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The first author designed the study and collected and analyzed the data. All authors contributed to the first draft of the manuscript and commented on and revised subsequent drafts. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Erin D. Basinger.

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Basinger, E.D., Cameron, S.J. & Allen, G. Stigma, Self-Care, and Intuitive Eating in Black Americans with Type 2 Diabetes. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01772-6

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