Diabetes education

Universal principles

• Children and adolescents, their parents and other care providers should all have easy access to and be included in the educational process
• Diabetes education should be delivered by health care professionals with a clear understanding of the special and changing needs of young people and their families as they grow through the different stages of life
• Educators (doctors, nurses, dieticians and other health care providers) should have access to continuing specialized training in diabetes education and educational methods. This should be the responsibility of each nation/state and be a national priority
• The priorities for health care professionals in diabetes education may not match those of the child and family. Thus diabetes education should be based on a thorough assessment of the person’s attitudes, beliefs, learning style, ability and readiness to learn, existing knowledge and goals
• Diabetes education needs to be adaptable and personalized so that it is appropriate to each individual’s age, stage of diabetes, maturity and lifestyle, culturally sensitive and at a pace to suit individual needs
• Diabetes education needs to be a continuous process and repeated for it to be effective
• Diabetes education is the interface between research and clinical practice. It should be planned, documented, monitored and evaluated regularly by the diabetes care team
• Research into diabetes educational methods is important in improving clinical practice