Educación terapéutica sobre diabetes en la infancia

Treatment of diabetes mellitus type 1 is built on three main pillars: treatment with subcutaneous insulin, a healthy and balanced diet ensuring control of the intake of carbohydrates and practicing a physical activity. Considering its condition as a chronic pathology, it is essential to build the bases of treatment through therapeutic education in diabetes (TED).

Handling diabetes is complex and requires full information and training. TED is a process through which the patient and the family acquire knowledge, skills and proper attitudes for managing to properly control their diabetes. The aims of the education are defined depending on the age of the boy/girl and on the family's degree of acceptance of the disease.

An educational programme has to be drawn up which must contemplate multiple aspects and which requires a structured planning in order to prevent the learning process from being complex. Furthermore, having the appropriate educational material significantly contributes to helping his/her new situation to adapt to everyday family life. It is essential to progressively convey these aspects which are personalized according to the patient and his/her family's learning capacity. Transmitting an excess of teaching contents could hinder the learning of the most relevant concepts. Therefore, we could say that it is not necessary for the patients to know everything about their disease, but only that which is useful for their self-care, all in all, to achieve a proper metabolic control.