Nurse-Led Diabetes Self-Management Education: An Essential Strategy for Improving Self-Care Knowledge and Behavior among Individuals with Diabetes

DEAR EDITOR

Given the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus as a main part of metabolic syndrome worldwide, the need to care for patients is growing. This condition is characterized by high blood sugar levels resulting from insulin problems, affecting various body organs. To effectively manage diabetes and improve overall health, it is crucial to adopt self-care practices. These practices include maintaining a balanced diet, engaging in regular exercise, losing weight, quitting smoking, and adhering to medication and lifestyle changes. Consistently following these self-care routines is essential to prevent complications associated with diabetes. Several factors, such as education, duration of diabetes, age, existing health conditions, and access to necessary supplies, can influence these behaviors. Successfully managing diabetes also depends on physical and mental abilities, support from others, access to nutritious food, and quality of medical care. ^{1 , 2}

Healthcare professionals face challenges in caring for individuals with diabetes due to high costs, medication access, and doctor-patient relationships. The beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and communication skills of healthcare professionals are crucial in providing effective care. Improving self-care knowledge and behavior through education and counseling can help patients reduce complications, but many struggles to follow their treatment plans due to a lack of knowledge about self-care. This often leads to poor adherence in diet, exercise, and blood sugar monitoring. ³

Nurses play a crucial role in helping patients with diabetes by providing education and counseling to promote self-care. Providing necessary information can improve patient outcomes and lessen the burden of diabetes on healthcare resources. Nurse-led Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) improves diabetic knowledge and practices, leading to better clinical and psychological outcomes. This approach focuses on facilitating knowledge, skills, and abilities for diabetes self-care, encouraging specific behavioral changes, problem-solving skills, and self-efficacy to enhance clinical outcomes, health status, and quality of life in patients. Collaborative delivery by healthcare professionals, with support from lay health educators, is recommended. Monitoring and evaluating the impact of this approach is essential for regular care. ⁴

The approach is crucial for effectively managing diabetes as it offers patients’ support, education, and personalized care. Overcoming complications and promoting collaboration among healthcare professionals are key factors in successfully implementing care models that empower patients to manage their condition. Policymakers should provide training for healthcare providers, integrate this approach into the healthcare system, and incorporate it into health sciences curricula to enhance patient outcomes and improve the quality of care for individuals with diabetes. Additional research is needed to determine the most effective components of interventions, assess long-term impacts, and explore expansion opportunities. ⁵

Therefore, as previously mentioned, caring for individuals with diabetes puts healthcare professionals in a challenging situation. It seems that focusing on approaches such as Nurse-led DSME can enhance the patients’ outcomes and improve their quality of life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We thank the authors of the articles used in this letter.

Authors’ Contribution

NA, VL and PA developed conceptualization. NA, VL, SE and PA performed a document search. NA, VL and SE wrote the first draft of the manuscript. NA, PA, and VL conduct critical revisions for important intellectual content. All authors thoroughly reviewed and revised the manuscript and approved the final version for publication. The corresponding author confirms that all individuals listed have met the authorship criteria, and that no eligible contributors have been excluded.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared.

Funding

This study did not receive any financial support.

Declaration on the use of AI

The authors of this manuscript declare that in the writing process of this work, no artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies were used.

References

1. American Diabetes Association. Classification and diagnosis of diabetes: Standards of medical care in diabetes-2021. Diabetes Care. 2021; 44:S15-33.
2. Aghakhani N, Baghaei R, Sadeghi R, et al. The effect of collaborative care model training on diabetic foot ulcer patients’ quality of life: A semi-experimental study. Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders. 2020; 19:1557-62.
3. Ahmad F, Joshi SH. Self-care practices and their role in the control of diabetes: A narrative review. Cureus Journal of Medical Science. 2023; 15:e41409.
4. Hailu FB, Hjortdahl P, Moen A. Nurse-led diabetes self-management education improves clinical parameters in Ethiopia. Frontiers in Public Health. 2018; 6:302.
5. Tamiru S, Dugassa M, Amsalu B, et al. Effects of nurse-led diabetes self-management education on self-care knowledge and self-care behavior among adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus attending diabetes follow-up clinic: A quasi-experimental study design. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences. 2023; 18:100548.