Could a meeting in Germany make diabetes care better?

ACBRD takes part in a two-day meeting to develop new guidelines that could change how health professionals support people with diabetes.

By Professor Jane Speight

Living with diabetes isn’t just a matter of  checking blood glucose levels and taking medicines. On average, people with diabetes think about their condition every 12 minutes. They may be thinking about what impact their actions or decisions can have on their glucose levels. Or, they may be thinking about how to handle other people’s reactions. Or their feelings about their diabetes. Diabetes can make people feel frustrated, guilty, annoyed, sad, worried, or stressed. This is known as “diabetes distress”.

Research shows that people with diabetes want to talk about these feelings with their health professionals. But many health professionals aren’t sure how to help with these feelings – or they don’t think it is their job to support the emotional side of living with diabetes. They need better insights to help people who are experiencing diabetes distress.

A special meeting in Germany

Recently, a group of experts met for two days in Düsseldorf, Germany. They are working on a new guideline that could change how health professionals support people with diabetes.

This group is working on behalf of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). This will be the EASD’s first-ever guideline. And it is focused on the emotional side of diabetes!

Why this guideline matters

1. 1. 1. Many people with diabetes experience distress, which can affect how they manage their diabetes and look after themselves
      2. Modern healthcare needs to focus on the whole person, not just on their medical condition
      3. Health professionals want practical advice they can use in their daily work
      4. Current guidelines don’t offer enough detail about how to handle the emotional aspects of diabetes
      5. We need to ensure that the support offered to people with diabetes is consistent across hospitals and clinics wherever they are located

Who is creating these guidelines?

The team includes:

• • • People who live with diabetes
    • Medical doctors who understand the emotional side of diabetes
    • Psychologists who understand diabetes care
    • Researchers who understand how to find and interpret evidence

Professor Jane Speight (ACBRD) and Professor Richard Holt (University of Southampton) are leading this important work. The team is looking carefully at what scientific evidence shows works best for reducing diabetes distress.

What’s next for the guideline?

The expert panel will meet again in May to continue their work.

In September 2025, they will present the guideline at the EASD’s annual meeting in Vienna, Austria. This meeting draws thousands of diabetes professionals from around the world, so it’s the perfect place to share this important new guideline. After that, the guideline will be available for public feedback before they’re finalised.

How will this support people with diabetes?

This new guideline will be a big step forward in diabetes care. It will help health professionals better understand how to:

• • • recognise when someone is feeling distressed about their diabetes
    • talk about the emotional side in helpful ways
    • offer the right kind of support when it’s needed

There are several benefits to health professionals supporting people with both the physical and the emotional sides of diabetes:

• • • the person with diabetes will feel better about managing their condition
    • there will be greater trust between the health professional and the person with diabetes
    • they will both benefit from identifying better ways to manage the person’s diabetes
    • the person with diabetes will have improved glucose levels and a better quality of life

This guideline will provide evidence-based recommendations for identifying and managing diabetes distress. It will fill a critical gap in diabetes care. This important work in Germany is helping to create diabetes care that treats the whole person, not just the diabetes.

Read more about diabetes distress here.

Acknowledgment: This blog post was drafted with the assistance of an AI language model, which helped with structuring and refining content.

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