Discuss feelings and recognize the impact they might have on control of diabetes.

This product was developed by the Advancing Diabetes Self Management program at Community Health Center, Inc. in Middletown, CT with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation® in Princeton, NJ.

Teaching Objectives:
1. Participants will verbalize their feelings about the diagnosis of diabetes.
Teaching points:
Discuss feelings and recognize the impact they might have on control of diabetes.
Dispel myths that surround the reasons for contracting diabetes; i.e., the participants
did something bad, or they ate too much sugar.
Ask participants what they feel is the hardest part of their diagnosis to manage and
what life style changes are most difficult to incorporate into their lives.
This discussion should lead into teaching objective #2.
2. Participants will be able to define diabetes and its pathophysiology.
Teaching points for the questions, „what causes diabetes?” and “what is diabetes?”
Describe normal glucose metabolism in simple terms. Explain that most foods contain sugar and that the body needs this sugar or glucose for energy. Explain that the brain, muscles and internal organs all use sugar for fuel.
Emphasize that eating too much sugar did not cause participant‟s diabetes. Genetics, weight, family history and ethnicity all contribute to diabetes.
In diabetics, the body can‟t use the insulin that is produced or the pancreas doesn‟t
produce enough insulin. Familiarize participants with the term, “insulin resistance.”