Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

11-10 | CHAPTER 11

assess or provide appropriate care to address psychological issues (13). Canadian diabetes professionals have worked diligently to change this situation, providing self-learning opportunities, such as this manual, a chapter on the psychological aspects of diabetes in the last four Diabetes Canada clinical practice guidelines (17), a chapter on SME beginning in the Canadian Diabetes Association 2008 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in Canada (18,19) and, new for the 2018 Guidelines, the addition of self-management support (6). While no single educational/psychological theory has yet demonstrated clear superiority with respect to SME and SMS program design or implementation, we must choose some framework to integrate educational and psychological theory into the steps of developing and evaluating any educational intervention, whether it be a one-on-one encounter, a group educational program or a population health approach within the chronic care model (1). In this chapter, Self-Management Education and Support: Program Development, we explore the steps in program planning/intervention design by incorporating the empowerment protocol with the 5C method articulated by Peyrot and Rubin (20). Similar steps and processes can be adapted for any type of program development for individual practice or large community forums. To summarize: education/support interventions for diabetes self-management should incorporate: • Educational components • Psychosocial considerations • Cognitive-behavioural strategies Self-evaluation It has been said that the best teachers are those who continually reflect on their practice and make changes accordingly. Our thoughts direct our attitudes which direct our action. It is important to take a moment to reflect. As the father of philosophical thought, John Dewey, stated:

“Human beings at every stage of maturity use material from prior experience to guide present inquiry” (21).

All learning begins with reflection and the identification of a need to learn/inquire.