Grant: Catalyst Grant: Moving Upstream - Structural Determinants of Health-POR Approach

Diabetes is a complex disease that requires complex management. Individuals with diabetes are expected to use medications appropriately, maintain blood glucose levels within certain parameters, eat certain foods, exercise and monitor blood glucose regularly, and attend numerous appointments with various health care providers. These ideal best practices are not consistently achievable for many people because of numerous individual and sociocultural factors. Of these sociocultural factors, access to diabetes overall care and support are consistently identified as challenging, enhancing the risk of negative health outcomes (Disler et al., 2020; Lavergne et al., 2023). These risks include physiological (e.g, blindness, lower limb amputations) and psychological (e.g., anxiety and depression) complications. Access to necessary care and support is essential to maintain and enhance the health and well-being of individuals living with diabetes. As of 2023, an estimated 11% -14% of Atlantic Canadians were diagnosed with diabetes and this is projected to increase to 13% - 17% by 2033. This is higher than the current Canadian prevalence, as well as their future projections. In Atlantic Canada, access issues are compounded by vast geography. Recently released federal and provincial documents have emphasized the importance of access to care and support for PWD. To our understanding, little research explores access to diabetes care and support in Atlantic Canada from the combined experiences of adults living with diabetes, health care providers, and policymakers in the context of relevant health-related policies. Further, little is known about how sex and gender impact these experiences in this region. We propose exploring these combined experiences in Atlantic Canada. We will conduct interviews in urban and rural areas to examine bidirectional influences between structural (policies) and social (access) determinants of health.