Implications of diabetes self-management education in metabolic control

Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic, progressive and disabling disease that affects millions of people around the world, with a high mortality rate derived from poor control. The paradigm of the treatment of diabetes has shifted to focus on empowering the person with diabetes to manage the disease successfully and to improve their quality of life. Diabetes self-management education, or DSME, is a process where people with diabetes gain the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions, modify their behaviour and to self-manage, in collaboration with health personnel, successfully the disease and its related conditions. To achieve these goals a structured educational program is used, in 4 stages which include assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation; to carry on this program, the model of the seven self-care behaviours known as AADE7®, developed by the American Association of Diabetes Educators, is used as a frame of reference. The objective of this paper is to analyse the components of the education program for diabetes self-care as well as its reference framework, the AADE7® model, and its importance in the metabolic control of diabetes.