The importance of asking about wellbeing in a diabetes foot clinic

Abstract

The onset of diabetes foot complications signals a new stage of diabetes progression. Amputation may be the result of such difficulties and can impact upon all aspects of a person's life such as mobility, independence, relationships, and possible loss of earning potential, all likely triggers of distress. The aim of this article is for a health care professional to understand more about the types of distress experienced by individuals with diabetes. It will consider whether routine screening could help diabetes podiatry teams improve the outcomes of their patients. Living with a long-term condition such as diabetes can be stressful due to increased self-management responsibilities and the potential for long-term complications. Diabetes can interact with a person's mental health, including depression or anxiety. The concept of diabetes distress describes the emotional distress resulting from living with diabetes and the burden of relentless daily self-management. As this type of distress is relatively common, and impacts upon self-care, it is important that every consultation includes a chance for a person living with diabetes to say how they are feeling. Screening is one way a team can easily identify diabetes distress and provides the opportunity to discuss how each individual is coping with diabetes and life generally. A routine brief screening measure such as the two-item Diabetes Distress Screening instrument (DDS2) can be quickly and easily administered by health care professionals within a busy diabetes podiatry clinic and helps initiate an all-important conversation about wellbeing. Copyright © 2023 John Wiley & Sons.