This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Diabetes self-management education effective in developing countries, but gaps exist
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
In developing countries, diabetes self-management education programs appear to be effective in the short term, according to a systematic review published in The Diabetes Educator.
However, the programs must be tailored to conform to the cultural aspects of various target populations, Loveness Dube, MPH, of the Psychological Sciences Research Institute at Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and colleagues found.
Loveness Dube
“From the limited studies available in this review, diabetes self-management education programs in developing countries were effective at short term follow-up; however, several gaps remain unaddressed,” Dube told Endocrine Today.
“These gaps include training of professional and non-professional providers, addressing the cultural sensitivity of programs, guiding programs by behaviour change theories and making programs accessible to people with low literacy,” she said. “These gaps, if addressed, could enhance the effectiveness of programs in developing countries.”
Through a search for peer-reviewed articles on type 2 diabetes published in English between 2009 and 2013 in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES databases, the researchers identified three reviews and 23 primary studies.
The investigators applied World Bank and WHO burden of disease criteria to distinguish between developing countries with high and low mortality rates. Studies from high mortality countries were often “quasi-experimental” and those from low mortality countries “experimental,” according to researchers; 18 were conducted in low-mortality developing countries.
For 9 months or less, interventions proved to be generally effective on behavior change and glycemic control. Although 57% of the studies mentioned cultural tailoring, only 17% reported training for providers. Interventions were accessible for people with low literacy in 39% of studies.
“The findings of this research have important practice implications for health workers providing education in developing countries,” Dube said. “Diabetes self-management education health workers are encouraged to improve the sustainability and effectiveness of interventions by tailoring them to the culture and literacy levels of the target population.
“In order to measure the longer term effectiveness of the programs, follow-up studies on a long term should also be prioritized.” – by Allegra Tiver
For more information:
Loveness Dube, MPH, Diabetes Literacy Project, Place Cardinal Mercier, 10 bte L3.05.01 B-1348-Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium; email: loveness.dube@uclouvain.be.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts