Self-management guidance is aimed at providing you with sufficient information and skills to implement self-management on a daily basis. This enables the you to make daily choices and decisions pertaining to your own care. Another objective is to support coping and managing with diabetes in daily life as well as prevent the acute issues and conditions related to diabetes.
Following the initial information and guidance, the aim is to systematically go through everything pertaining to the treatment of diabetes during the first year of living with the condition. Going forward, continued guidance and support are necessary in order to refresh information and skills as well as search for solutions to topical care challenges or life situations. In the course of life, your life situations as well as the nature of diabetes may change, and there may be new developments in care and care equipment. New research information and technology make it necessary to learn new things and acquire updated information.
Group guidance can be used in addition to individual guidance. The advantages of group guidance include peer support and the opportunity to use the group to process your thoughts and feelings. Groups may be either general or specifically related to the theme of a particular area of diabetes care.
The main responsibility for self-management guidance and support rests with your own nurse and doctor. Specialists are consulted in accordance with your own needs and potential care challenges. The specialists who participate in diabetes care and guidance include podiatrists, dieticians, physiotherapists, social work specialists, psychologists or other mental health professionals, oral health professionals and other experts on specialized fields.