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Qualitative Health Research
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The Body Projects of University Students with Type 1 Diabetes

Myles Balfe

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Young adults with type 1 diabetes are a "forgotten group." Their perspectives are rarely addressed by research studies, meaning that we know little about the reasons why they engage (or not) in diabetes self-care practices. The limited work that has investigated these young people's perspectives suggests that they experience a tension between being healthy and being normal. In this article, I examine this tension from the viewpoints of a particular group of young adults with diabetes: university students. I examine what being normal means for these students and how their attempts to be normal impact upon their diabetes control. I argue that normalcy for these students is constructed and maintained through the body. Respondents attempt to be normal by engaging in what Shilling refers to as "body projects." Each of the body projects that students are involved in developing is intended to produce a particular kind of normal embodied identity that is unaffected by diabetes. Unfortunately, the constitutional practices of particular body projects often undermine those of others, and can be risky for students' diabetes control. As such, students have to reach a balance between their different body projects. This article helps to address the lack of research on the perspectives of young adults with diabetes, and contributes to theoretical research on the concept of body projects.

Key Words: diabetes • qualitative methods • general • young adults • young women

This version was published on January 1, 2009

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 19, No. 1, 128-139 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732308328052
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