The purpose of this study is to provide an evidence for developing a motivational interviewing strategy to help people with type 2 diabetes to accept insulin therapy by understanding experiences of insulin acceptance with type 2 diabetes.

10 type 2 diabetic patients receiving insulin treatment who had participated motivational interviewing were selected for the present study. Open-ended questions were utilized to focus on experiences of insulin acceptance with diabetes. The collected qualitative date were analyzed by using the colaizzi method (1978).

The results showed that 14 themes were drawn from the experiences for insulin acceptance in type 2 diabetic patients participating in motivational interviewing and 4 theme clusters were finally confirmed.
1) The first theme cluster, “The Ambivalence about Insulin Therapy” revealed the experience in which participants did not want to start insulin treatment while they realized the for insulin therapy. This theme cluster was composed of three themes: ‘Realizing the Need for Insulin Therapy’, ‘Rejection of Insulin Therapy’, and ‘Positive Recognition of Insulin Therapy’.
2) The second theme cluster, “Psychological Burden with Insulin Therapy” described the experience of various psychological difficulties. This theme cluster included four themes; ‘a whirlwind of fear and anxiety’, ‘grief’, ‘self-blaming’, and ‘harshness on life-long care’.
3) The third theme cluster, “The desire to find a place to lean on” described the experience in which participants needed a help from acquaintances to manage diabetes and wanted to obtain tailored information from health care providers. This theme cluster included two themes; ‘Want to get helps from adjacent people for diabetes management’, ‘Want to communicate with medical personnel’.
4) The fourth theme cluster, “Life along with insulin treatment” described the experience in which participants began to gain confidence in their diabetes management by utilizing the personalized information provided. Participants expressed that they finally admit the fact that insulin therapy could be determined by themselves by in-depth acceptance of their diseases. This theme cluster included five themes: ‘Psychological healing by provided empathy’, ‘Confronting their current status with diabetes, ‘Making a turning point by ventilating fear’, ‘Self-confidence of managing their disease’ and ‘Life of being accustomed with insulin treatment’.

The present study described the patients’ experiences with type 2 diabetes to maintain their lives while accepting insulin treatment. This study provided an in-depth understanding experiences of the insulin acceptance among people with type 2 diabetes who participated in motivational interviewing.
Based on the results, we can expect that it will be helpful to suggest a psychological nursing intervention while providing the basic evidence of motivation interviewing for facilitating T2DM patients’ acceptance of insulin.