Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

4-34 | CHAPTER 4

• Loss of parents. • Loss of friends and/or spouse

We need to recognize the types of stresses that affect people in this stage in life, help them understand the effects of stress on diabetes and develop strategies for dealing with these stresses. Individual reactions will, of course, be mediated by social, economic, cognitive and cultural factors, as at any developmental stage.

Table 8: Interventions for the middle-age adult INTERVENTIONS

Challenge

Intervention

1. Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes

• Encourage early screening for prediabetes in high risk populations

2. Stress related concerns leading to poor self-management

• Work within patient’s lifestyle with realistic goals • Encourage family physical activity • Referral to appropriate services agencies • Screen for depression • Support caregiver role

3. Complications emerging

Educate/self-management

•

Screen/refer

•

Older adults Definition of “older ”: A n age continuum starting sometime around age 70; characterized by a slow, progressive impairment in function that continues until the end of life (3,69,70). The prevalence of diabetes increases with age, with estimates suggesting that 20 to 25% of the older population has diabetes and a further 20 to 25 % have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (71-75).