PLOS ONE · 11 authors, 7 centres
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This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews guided by the Health Beliefs Model to explore why patients with sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy in India fail to seek referred care, finding that poor health literacy, prohibitive treatment costs, access difficulties, and inadequate social support were major barriers.
Analysis was guided by the Health Beliefs Model using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach. Findings revealed poor understanding of how diabetes affects the eyes, contributing to low risk perception. Prohibitive treatment costs, difficulties accessing care services, and poor social support were major barriers. Women were particularly disadvantaged, often refraining from reporting problems due to feelings of awkwardness or not wanting to burden the family. Ophthalmologists noted that the absence of symptoms and the slow progressive nature of the disease gave patients a false sense of security. Limitations include the inability to achieve the desired sample size and a population limited to low and middle socioeconomic backgrounds aged 40 to 60 years. The study highlights the need for greater health literacy, affordable treatment, and effective patient education strategies.
