ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses components of the diabetes education plan for older adults. It reviews various factors that impact how older individuals and families learn to manage diabetes. The chapter describes how diabetes interventions may be individualized for older people. Older adults with diabetes are heterogeneous with respect to their social, psychological, clinical, and functional status and the type and duration of diabetes. A comprehensive assessment necessary for the development of a diabetes education plan for older patients includes assessment of functional and cognitive status as well as physical and psychosocial factors such as health beliefs, attitudes, and family support. Older adults often experience physiological and psychosocial changes, related and unrelated to diabetes, that may restrict their independence and threaten their sense of self-efficacy and personal control. Older adults achieve better glycemic control, greater increase in diabetes-related knowledge, and greater adherence to treatment recommendations when family members and peers participate in diabetes education.
