Abstract
Diabetes incurs heavy personal and health system costs. Self-management is required if complications are to be avoided. Adolescents face particular challenges as they learn to take responsibility for their diabetes. A systematic review of educational and psychosocial programmes for adolescents with diabetes was undertaken. This aimed to: identify and categorise the types of programmes that have been evaluated; assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions; identify areas where further research is required. Sixty-two papers were identified and subjected to a narrative review. Generic programmes focus on knowledge/skills, psychosocial issues, and behaviour/self-management. They result in modest improvements across a range of outcomes but improvements are often not sustained, suggesting a need for continuous support, possibly integrated into normal care. In-hospital education at diagnosis confers few advantages over home treatment. The greatest returns may be obtained by targeting poorly controlled individuals. Few studies addressed resourcing issues and robust cost-effectiveness appraisals are required to identify interventions that generate the greatest returns on expenditure.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Patient Education and Counseling |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 333-346 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 0738-3991 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2004 |
Keywords
- Adolescents
- Cost-effectiveness
- Diabetes
- Educational programmes
