Alongside prescription medication, it is recommended that type 2 diabetes patients (T2D) carry out regular adaptedphysical activity (APA), in the same way that they should adopt a new dietary balance (HAS 2006). This incitement to bringabout concrete changes in lifestyle comes up against opposition which is compounded where the patient does not have ahistory of regular physical exercise. Some health organizations have devised innovative arrangements such as health networks,or inter-disciplinary patient education units, to make this engagement in physical activity possible, and to enable autonomousdevelopment within the framework of an “APA practitioner career” as defined by Becker (1985). The objective here is tostudy this process of engagement in relation to the “illness trajectory” as understood by Strauss (1985), taking into account thedifferent phases of its course. This approach brings into play the concept of Interactionism at the interface of health sociologyand sport sociology. The methodology used here links fieldwork with 52 personal narratives of people affected by chronicillness (39 of whom have T2D), which have developed through two different APA action plans, the first of which offers theorysessions providing information/explanation (n=17), and the second, the setting up of practical sessions which form a series ofAPA lessons followed by guidance towards a patients’ sports association (n=35). Textual data processing software is used toanalyse the patients’ narratives (Prospéro). Three types of engagement have thus been pinpointed: the first appears in the“illness trajectory” but assumes a new relationship with the body after challenging the patient’s pre-conceived ideas about PAand about his/her own capabilities. The second opens an “APA practitioner career” in the context of socialising with otherpeople like themselves, initiated via the apparatus of APA. The third consolidates this “career” into more of a cultural thanmedical practice, by making it part of a wider group activity. These three types of engagement progress along a continuum,over the course of which the following trends result simultaneously: a growing desire to decrease dependence on medicaladvice, an increase in physical self-awareness, and the development of a network of contacts.
