Exploring Meaning-Making and Identity Transformation Among Adults Living with Type 2 Diabetes in Saudi Arabia: A...

Diabetes mellitus is highly prevalent in Saudi Arabia and shapes individuals' lived experiences within culturally and religiously embedded contexts. Although existing research has extensively examined biomedical, behavioral, and psychosocial dimensions of diabetes using quantitative and conventional qualitative approaches, there remains limited understanding of how individuals interpret, construct meaning, and reconstruct identity in relation to the illness over time. In particular, phenomenological inquiry is needed to access the lived, embodied, and existential dimensions of type 2 diabetes that are often not captured in existing outcome- or theme-focused qualitative studies. This study aimed to explore how Saudi adults with type 2 diabetes experience identity transitions, construct meaning, and undergo personal transformation.

A hermeneutic phenomenological design informed by van Manen was employed. Twenty-seven Saudi adults with type 2 diabetes of at least one year's duration were purposively recruited from a tertiary diabetes center in Riyadh. The sample size was guided by the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology, which prioritize depth, richness, and interpretive adequacy rather than numerical saturation. Recruitment and data collection continued until interpretive sufficiency was achieved, defined as the point at which no new experiential meanings or conceptual insights emerged across iterative analysis. Data were generated through in-depth, face-to-face interviews conducted in Arabic. Analysis followed an iterative interpretive process guided by the hermeneutic circle. Reflexivity, member checking, and peer review were used to enhance rigor.

Diabetes was experienced as a profound multidimensional disruption affecting embodiment, social roles, emotional well-being, and existential orientation. Participants described persistent fatigue and bodily limitation, shifting family roles and reduced social participation, emotional turbulence moving from shock to acceptance, and ongoing processes of meaning-making grounded in faith, gratitude, and strengthened family relationships.

Living with diabetes involves an ongoing process of meaning-making and identity reconstruction that extends beyond clinical disease management to include emotional, social, and existential dimensions. These findings highlight the importance of culturally sensitive, person-centered care that addresses the lived experience of chronic illness within its sociocultural and spiritual context.