Adherence to Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Protocols Among Indigenous Women of Western Guatemala

A qualitative study was conducted at a public hospital in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, to better understand sources of lack of patient adherence to medical protocols for treating Type 2 Diabetes in indigenous women. The sources included contextual, cultural, and psychological factors. Interviews were conducted with twenty-nine women and five physicians involved in care of diabetes patients in the Department of Internal Medicine of the Hospital Regional de Occidente. A communicate, motivate, facilitate (CMF) framework emerged from the data that is useful for identifying factors that can improve communication between patients and doctors, address motivation of patients to adhere to treatment protocols, and identify barriers that, when addressed, will facilitate the translation of high adherence motivation into actual adherence behaviors.