糖尿病不僅無法治癒甚至具有高殘障和致死風 險，是現代化社會中對人類威脅最大的疾病之一。 隨著生活型態的改變，台灣地區第2型糖尿病盛行率 逐年增加，20歲以上成年人第2型糖尿病盛行率從 2000年的5.8%急速增加至2007年的8.3%， 增加幅 度為43.4%，遠高於世界衛生組織的預估（Lin et al., 2013）。國外的生命統計資料發現，健康狀態與風險 具有性別的差異性（Homko et al., 2010; Šekerija et al., 2012）。台灣地區女性糖尿病盛行率雖然低於男性， 但2013年糖尿病在男性十大死因中排行第六（ 每10 萬人口39.8），而女性糖尿病卻僅次於惡性腫瘤及心 臟病，位居十大死因的第三位（ 每10萬人口41.0）， 也是十大死因中唯一女性死亡率高於男性者（衛生福 利部統計處，2014）。可見台灣地區糖尿病對女性健 康衝擊甚於男性。

Background: The role of women is strongly associated with health behavior. Understanding the illness experiences of women with diabetes helps health professionals to provide appropriate health care to women with diabetes. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the illness experiences of women with diabetes. Methods: This study used interpretive ethnographic methods with in-depth interviews and field observations to obtain emic points of view from women who were diagnosed with diabetes. Agar’s hermeneutic cycle was used to analyze the collected data. The participants were recruited under the principle of maximum variation. The inclusion criteria targeted women who: (1) had been diagnosed with diabetes for at least one year, (2) were able to speak Mandarin or Taiwanese, and (3) were willing to participate and have their sessions tape-recorded in a diabetes clinic in southern Taiwan. A total of 18 women with diabetes between 24 and 79 years of age were enrolled as participants. Results: “Disorder in life and the world” was the main storyline elicited from participants. The four themes constructed from this disorder were: (1) disorder of the body: reliance on medical care to understand the body, (2) disorder of life: shift from being in control of food to being controlled by food, (3) disorder of the family: sick person is perceived as incompetent, and (4) disorder of the self: controlling the body for the family. Conclusions / Implications for Practice: Healthcare providers should recognize and make positive use of the potential of the cultural role of women to improve the ability of women to self-manage their diabetes. Additionally, perceiving the entire family as the client may improve the illness experience for Asian women with diabetes.