Trends in diabetes self‐management education: where are we coming from and where are we going? A narrative review

Abstract

Aims To summarize the history, development and efficacy of diabetes self‐management education on glycaemic control and mental health in adults and children or adolescents with type 1 diabetes and people with type 2 diabetes. A further aim was to review the status of implementation of diabetes self‐management education into routine care and outline current gaps in implementation and research. Methods We searched PubMed and Google scholar for German‐ and English‐language articles regarding diabetes self‐management education, glycaemic control and mental health, and restricted this search to meta‐analyses. Results Diabetes education has evolved from a compliance‐ and knowledge‐oriented approach to an empowerment‐ and self‐management‐oriented approach. Diabetes self‐management education seems to have a greater impact on glycaemic outcomes than on mental health outcomes, but the latter are rarely assessed. Technological development and digitalization can provide chances and challenges for diabetes self‐management education. Digital solutions show promising results and great potential for improving the efficacy of diabetes self‐management education further and providing ongoing support. The implementation of diabetes self‐management education into routine clinical care frequently remains a challenge. Conclusion Diabetes self‐management education has been acknowledged as an essential part of diabetes therapy; however, current gaps regarding the efficacy of diabetes self‐management education on mental health, and the need for education on the use of diabetes technology, are future avenues for research.

Immersive Education for Chronic Condition Self-Management

“…Whilst health knowledge correlates with outcomes (Camerini et al, 2012), improvements in health behaviors are greater when education is combined with empowerment and self-management training (Allegrante et al, 2019). While these interventions show consistent efficacy, their benefit is often modest, suggesting scope for improvement (Allegrante et al, 2019;Safari et al, 2020) (Hermanns et al, 2020).…”

New era of therapy for endocrine autoimmune disorders

“…Self‐monitoring treatment, and especially online‐based modalities with possibilities of using cell phones, is becoming more popular, exemplified for T1D 93 . Several trials are ongoing to cause awareness and possibilities for self‐learning and self‐assessment of disease.…”

Strukturierte Diabetesschulung

“…Im Gegenteil: All diese Entwicklungen schaffen einen vermehrten Schulungsbedarf. Außerdem stellen sich weiterentwickelnde Diabetestechnologien [29,30] für das Beratungspersonal (Ärzte und Ärztinnen sowie Berater/-innen) in zunehmendem Maße eine Herausforderung dar [31].…”