Group Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) for adolescents with type 1 diabetes to improve knowledge and understanding of self-management skills

Abstract

Those with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) are required to perform many self-care activities, such as monitoring blood glucose and taking insulin, every day to prevent long term complications associated with the disease, such as retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy and heart disease (American Diabetes Association, ADA). Knowledge of the self-management skills required to care for diabetes is known as Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME). Adolescents with T1DM struggle with management of their disease for many reasons, and most often it is the family who receives the education at diagnosis. This leaves the adolescent vulnerable to a gap in understanding their disease process and proper management skills. Implementation of group DSME that is led by a diabetes specialist is showing promise in the adult setting and has implications for youth with T1DM as well (Raymond, et al, 2015). Surveys assessing knowledge and confidence in management of T1DM were given before and after a group DSME class were given to nine participants. Results of the post surveys show that there was an increase in both knowledge and confidence after the class among all participants. These results suggest that there is a benefit to group, adolescent specific DSME classes.