Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

11-4 | CHAPTER 11

INTRODUCTION

Earlier chapters in this manual covered the essential knowledge required to provide self management education (SME) and support (SMS). However, as we have experienced, knowledge alone does not ensure learning. The diabetes educator must be competent in the skills to employ the appropriate teaching techniques to facilitate learning and the strategies necessary to facilitate behaviour change. When we discuss the art and science of SME and SMS, we frequently refer to the acquisition of knowledge as the science, but the art is more difficult to define. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the dynamics of the educational and behavioural change processes that contribute to the art of SME and SMS. We will outline organizational plans which give us a framework within which we can develop and effectively implement our interventions. In acute-care delivery systems, providers traditionally wait for individuals to come to them; at this point, the person is either in a crisis, or at least recognizes a problem exists, and is ready to do something about the problem. They could be considered to be in the preparation stage for change. Chronic care demands a different preventive approach to care. Adoption of a Chronic Care Model (CCM) framework means a redesign of health-care systems to improve access to and delivery of services across all stages and throughout a lifetime with diabetes (1,2). With the increasing prevalence of diabetes, those who are at risk for developing diabetes also need to be considered in our service delivery. Health systems need to help individuals become more aware of problems and feel confident enough to access services to work with their concerns.