Attrition from Diabetes Self-Management Education - Assignment Example

In the US alone the figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2008 indicate that nearly 24 million people are affected by diabetes in the country, which indicates an increase of over 3 million in the last two years (Daly et al, 2009). Such alarming projections underline the importance of self-help groups and self-management education of the disease. Diabetes Self Management Education (DSME) is considered an important tool for controlling to some extent the epidemic proportions acquired by the disease in recent times.

Such measures are known to improve preventive care practices as it helps the patients to lead a disciplined life, thus controlling the extent of the damage. During such education, the patient gets to know the necessary knowledge, skills and self-care methods. In addition, the patients also share their experiences, which in turn others in learning from the shortcomings and mistakes. But the SMEs have been found to suffer from some limitations in that they are not able to maintain the numbers and enthusiasm of the patients, which leads to some amount of attrition from DSME centers.

An effort is being made through this study to find out some such cases and correlate the findings to come out with factors contributing to the attrition rate. During their research on the subject Peyrot et al (2009). Expansion of innovative DSME delivery mechanism plays a key role in influencing the access and delivery of DSME, particularly in community-based settings (Peyrot et al, 2009). The ICT era presents a number of opportunities for educators to be innovative in their approach while reaching out to the patients.

Such an approach not only helps in easy reaching out to the patient, but it also helps in saving on the costs. The results based on internet surveys of more than a thousand adult diabetes patients indicted that, Diabetes self-management education (DSME) can prove to be of significant help in contributing towards the health and well being of diabetic patients. It was also found out that those having not taken the services of SMEs are not fully aware of the benefits of them, but those aware of their functioning highly regarded the benefits of such education centers.

It might, therefore, appear quite intriguing that even after being fully aware of the benefits, the attrition rate is on the higher side. Research by Peyrot et al (2009) also found out that patients have experienced the benefits of SMEs also inform others as well about the positive side of undergoing a disciplined routine with DSME. The fact that physicians too want more support from self-management groups and educators, is an indication of the impact such educations can have on the patients.

But physicians also find that the educators often tell the patients to do things which quite often they don't agree with. That implies that the SMEs need to be more user-friendly, and they might need to assess the need even on an individual basis instead of categorizing them.