Health care practices among people living with diabetes: an anthropological, ethnographical approach with a gender perspective

Diabetes, a disease that constitutes a syndrome, is growing more quickly in societies with precarious living and working conditions. Daily care practices are fundamental in preventing it from progressing. This work shows the heuristic and interpretative value and the explanatory potential of an ethnographic approach and a gender perspective in the analysis of care practices in a group of elder adults living with type 2 diabetes. The research was carried out with diabetes group participants and health professionals in a primary healthcare center in Jose Leon Suarez, municipality of San Martin, province of Buenos Aires, during the period 2013-2016. We identified and analyzed care activities (including self-care) that resulted from the authoritative knowledge of the group in connection with the healthcare center professionals. Such individual, group and collective actions generate care logics that promote care of oneself. The methodological proposal of this study is framed within the tradition of collaborative fieldwork.