Diabetes education and counseling in adult patients with diabetes (Update 2026)

Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2026 May;138(Suppl 4):171-177. doi: 10.1007/s00508-025-02693-6. Epub 2026 Apr 30.

ABSTRACT

Diabetes education and self-management play a critical role in diabetes care. Individualized patient empowerment aims to actively influence the course of the disease by self-monitoring and subsequent treatment modification, while enabling those affected to integrate diabetes management into their daily routine and adapt it to their lifestyle situation. Diabetes education must be accessible to all patients. Preventive measures in the prediabetic status are of additional value. In order to be able to provide a structured and validated education program, adequate personnel, rooms/facilities, organizational and financial prerequisites are required. Besides an increase in knowledge about the disease, it has been shown that structured diabetes education is able to improve diabetes outcome as measured by parameters such as blood glucose, time in glucose range, HbA_1c, lipids, blood pressure, and body weight in follow-up evaluations. Modern education programs emphasize the ability of patients to integrate diabetes into everyday life, stress physical activity and mental health, and also healthy eating as important components of lifestyle therapy and use interactive methods to increase the acceptance of personal responsibility. Specific situations (e.g., start of injectable medication, pregnancy, illness, travel), the occurrence of diabetic complications, and the use of technical devices such as glucose sensor systems (continuous glucose monitoring [CGM]), intelligent smartpen systems, insulin pumps (mostly sensor-augmented pumps [SAPs]), as well as automated insulin delivery (AID), hybrid closed loop (HCL), and open source AID systems require additional educational measures supported by adequate electronic tools (diabetes apps and diabetes web portals). New data have demonstrated the effect of telemedicine and internet-based services for diabetes prevention and management. In addition, social status, education, age, language, and cultural background must be taken into account to support personalized empowerment to achieve adequate health competence and treatment adherence.

PMID:42162468 | DOI:10.1007/s00508-025-02693-6