PURPOSE: To understand the life experience of teenagers with type 1 diabetes mellitus and how they cope with the disease in daily life. METHODS: The symbolic interactionism was the theoretical perspective guiding the study. Grounded theory served as the method for using the empirical data. Participants consisted of 10 teenagers with type 1 diabetes mellitus over a year. RESULTS: Two phenomena explaining their life experience emerged: "Regarding having diabetes as being normal" and "regarding having diabetes as being abnormal." CONCLUSION: The two phenomena were not isolated or excluded from the life experience of the same teenager; there were phases in which the teenagers experienced one of the phenomena and vice-versa with greater or less intensity.
Teenagers; Type 1Diabetes Mellitus; Pediatric Emergency
