Jane Speight: tackling diabetes and its stigma Down Under

Abstract

Jane Speight is not fond of the label “diabetic”—she feels that calling people by their medical condition contributes to stigma. Australia has a growing number of people who, to her chagrin, might be labelled as diabetics. Out of a total population of about 24·5 million, Australia has more than 1·25 million people with diagnosed diabetes, including about 1·1 million with type 2 diabetes (about 500 000 more are estimated to have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes). Speight has called for increased research investment—particularly regarding behavioural and psychological research—from the Government. Since May, 2010, she has served as the Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (ACBRD), which is a partnership between Diabetes Victoria (a charitable organisation) and Deakin University (Geelong, VIC), where Speight holds the Chair in Behavioural and Social Research in Diabetes. She emphasises that the ACBRD serves not only as a research centre, but also as a national resource and a national voice; indeed it is becoming an increasingly international voice. Diabetes structured self-management education programmes: a narrative review and current innovationsBoth type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with long-term complications that can be prevented or delayed by intensive glycaemic management. People who are empowered and skilled to self-manage their diabetes have improved health outcomes. Over the past 20 years, diabetes self-management education programmes have been shown to be efficacious and cost-effective in promotion and facilitation of self-management, with improvements in patients' knowledge, skills, and motivation leading to improved biomedical, behavioural, and psychosocial outcomes. Full-Text PDF Distal technologies and type 1 diabetes managementType 1 diabetes requires intensive self-management to avoid acute and long-term health complications. In the past two decades, substantial advances in technology have enabled more effective and convenient self-management of type 1 diabetes. Although proximal technologies (eg, insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, closed-loop and artificial pancreas systems) have been the subject of frequent systematic and narrative reviews, distal technologies have received scant attention. Distal technologies refer to electronic systems designed to provide a service remotely and include heterogeneous systems such as telehealth, mobile health applications, game-based support, social platforms, and patient portals. Full-Text PDF