Beliefs about illness: comparing foreign- and native-born persons with type 2 diabetes living in Sweden in a cross-sectional survey.

Beliefs about illness differed between foreign- and Swedish-born persons concerning causes of diabetes and healthcare-seeking behaviour. Foreign-born persons more often than Swedish-born persons reported uncertainty or lack of knowledge about whether heredity (67% vs 90%, = 0.002) and pancreatic disease (40% vs 62%, = 0.037) could cause diabetes. To a higher extent than Swedish-born persons, they reported that emotional stress and anxiety could cause the disease. Furthermore, they claimed they had sought care due to diabetes during the last 6 months to a higher extent than Swedish-born persons (30% vs 4%, = 0.000).The findings confirmed that dissimilarities in beliefs about illness, including the causes of diabetes and healthcare-seeking behaviour, exist between foreign- and Swedish-born persons with type 2 diabetes.