Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

2-24 | CHAPTER 2

The Canadian Diabetes Association 2013 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management for Diabetes in Canada (2013 Guidelines) and the 2018 Guidelines have built on this definition to further clarify and define SME:

“Self-management education is a systematic intervention that involves active participation by the individual in self-monitoring of health parameters and/or decision-making with the application of knowledge and skills. It also recognizes that patient-provider collaboration, approaches and the development of problem-solving skills are crucial for sustained self-care ” (3). Diabetes SME, as so defined, is now universally accepted as essential to the successful management of all forms of diabetes and is a cornerstone of all guidelines (2,10,12,13,48,59,60). The term SME used throughout this manual will refer to this comprehensive definition; peer programs and technological use of patient portals, etc. can all be considered types of interventions within this broader definition. The trend we have seen in Canada since the early 1990s has been the movement from the didactic medical management approach to the collaborative empowerment approach which will continue to be a fundamental strategy in our practice (41,61). The rapid pace of new developments in treatment strategies and communication technology has helped but also presented challenges to the educator in their responsibility to assist the patient in making informed decisions (65). We will further explore the content of our programs and our delivery methods which are enhancing the development of self-management behaviours.

Components of SME In order to understand what is involved in SME, we need to have a collective understanding of what we are trying to achieve.

Goal of SME: Personal engagement for informed, effective diabetes self-management.