Maintaining harmony : how religion and culture are interwoven in managing daily diabetes self‑care

The lingering culture among Javanese people cannot be separated from religion, influencing how they perceive any factors that might play a role in managing any health condition. This present study aimed in exploring the perceptions and experiences of religion and culture in performing daily self-care among Javanese Muslim with type 2 diabetes. A qualitative study with thematic content analysis method utilizing in-depth semi-structured interviews was undertaken to explore the perceptions and experiences of Javanese Muslim with diabetes managing their daily self-care activity. Convenient samples of 24 participants were selected to gain a richer understanding of self-care activity. The study identified one main theme of ‘maintaining harmony’ with comprised of two sub-themes: ‘surrender and accept’, and ‘keep trying and leave the rest to Allah, a concept of tawakkal’. The first sub-theme consists of categories of: nerimo ing pandum, or accepting with sincerity, and tepo seliro, or being tolerance with others. The second sub-theme consists of three categories: being independent, social ties, and embracing Allah. The study also reveals the importance of Pengajian and Persadia as social resources in enhancing the capability to better self-care the condition. Thus, it also reveals the need to further develop diabetes education programmes in collaboration with religious leaders and health professionals to promote self-care to complement religious practice: Tawakkal or ‘Keep trying and leave the rest to Allah’