Education that built confidence may help people with diabetes care for themselves

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   1,308 people in 10 studies, all aged 17 or over, with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Most of the 16 studies in the wider review were in China, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia.

2. 02

   What they did

   Most programmes ran as group sessions over 4 to 16 weeks. They set goals, practised and recorded self-care, showed peer examples and demonstrations, and gave encouragement from health staff.

3. 03

   What happened

   Confidence and self-care both rose at both time points, and the rises were larger at 3 to 6 months. Blood sugar (A1C) fell by about 0.6%. Most studies did not assign people to groups by chance, and the paper's numbers do not always match.

What the review found

1. HelpedMotivation

   Across 4 studies, the education made people more confident by three months.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 4 studies with 554 people · vs people who did not get the education · they rated themselves · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. HelpedMotivation

   Across 4 studies, the education made people more confident at three to six months.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 4 studies · vs people who did not get the education · they rated themselves · ⚠ results look too good to be true; the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. HelpedGoals

   Across 5 studies, the education got people to do more self-care within three months.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 5 studies · vs people who did not get the education · they rated themselves · ⚠ results look too good to be true; the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

4. HelpedGoals

   Across 4 studies, the education got people to do more self-care three to six months later.

   • Action: Set a specific goaltested
   • Action: Track your progresstested

   Pooled analysis of 4 studies · vs people who did not get the education · they rated themselves · ⚠ results look too good to be true; the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source