Patient Empowerment Taking Charge Diabetes
Nowadays, diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, is one of the fastest growing chronic diseases in the society. Tight blood glucose control, dietary requirements and intake of regular medication are only few things that a diabetic patient needs to manage in order to prevent long-term complications. Assured continuity of care does not only create many challenges for the patient but also for the treating physician who will need to support the patient’s management strategies. PATIENT EMPOWERMENT refers to a process that enables and facilitates behaviour change. The key to empowerment does not necessarily means better compliance to what the doctor says or prescribes but rather in the opportunity to increase patients’ self-sufficiency to improve their decision-making capabilities. Research has shown that diabetes education is central to effective self-management behaviour, which in the long term can influence clinical and psychological outcomes. Approaches have now moved from purely educational interventions to those that empower patients based on the assumption that they are managers of their own health. Diabetes education together with patient empowerment has shown to be the key for effective self-management behaviour. When delivered through information and communication technologies (ICT), this solution has shown to lead to better health outcomes.
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