Bringing the assessment and treatment of diabetes distress into the real world of clinical care: Time for a shift in perspective

Aims

Diabetes distress (DD) refers to the emotional and behavioural challenges associated with managing this demanding chronic disease over time. DD is alarmingly common and it has a significant impact on self-management behaviours and clinical outcomes. Thus, there is growing recognition that DD is a pressing problem that deserves careful attention in clinical care. Translating the application of validated DD assessment and intervention protocols from the research to the clinical setting, however, presents challenges that require a reconsideration of some common assumptions about what DD is, how prevalent it is, how it presents itself clinically, how it might best be assessed and by whom.

Methods

We employed data from six large-scale studies using five common DD measures. Using these data, we review and challenge several common assumptions about DD.

Results

These data suggest that, because of its relative ubiquity, DD should not be viewed as a ‘co-morbidity’ or ‘complication’ of diabetes and it should not be seen as a mental health/illness ‘condition’. Furthermore, we argue that DD assessment should: (1) be accepted as a standard part of comprehensive diabetes care, (2) occur regularly using broad rather than brief screening measures and (3) be addressed directly by diabetes clinicians, rather than exclusively by behavioural specialists.

Conclusions

The results form the basis of a series of suggestions to enhance the translation, adoption and implementation of DD knowledge derived from the research setting directly into the real world of clinical care.