Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

FOUNDATIONS OF DIABETES SELF-MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND SUPPORT| 2-49

LINKING LEARNING PRINCIPLES AND CHANGE THEORY TO SELF-MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND SUPPORT

The challenges that confront the person with diabetes may require many changes in life practices and routines. As the person with diabetes faces these challenges, he or she will choose to either do nothing or adopt new behaviours. The degree of behaviour change the person adopts depends on how he or she perceives the problem, his or her ongoing life circumstances and whether he or she is ready to change. It is important to understand the complexities of behavioural change and the factors that may inhibit or facilitate a patient’s movement toward it. These complexities have led to the development of a number of theories of behaviour and learning that educators may use while developing interventions/programs for individuals and groups. There is still no single universally accepted approach to education or behaviour change, no single accepted theory of human behaviour to guide our interventions. However, there have been many attempts to describe and/or research the process. The following are brief descriptions of selected approaches from the education/behavioural literature. As you read about them, consider how you might use them to teach and support the core critical self-care behaviours that are discussed in the following chapters. Characteristics of Adult Learners Malcom Knowles is known as the father of adult education. Although not the first to use the term, he developed the field of ‘andragogy’ which he defines as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (150). Knowles identified several common characteristics among adult learners and, from this, he developed the basic principles to work with when engaged in adult education. These principles have been widely accepted and should be

incorporated into adult education programs (151). There are four basic principles to adult learning (150):

1. As a person matures, his or her self-concept moves from dependency to a self-directed position. They relate to interactive learning where they discover themselves as opposed to lecture-style learning.