Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug;62(4):485-489.
doi: 10.20945/2359-3997000000058.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus: can coaching improve health outcomes?

Thais Pereira Costa Magalhães  1 , Rodrigo Bastos Fóscolo  2 , Aleida Nazareth Soares  1 , Janice Sepúlveda Reis  1
Affiliations

Type 1 diabetes mellitus: can coaching improve health outcomes?

Thais Pereira Costa Magalhães et al. Arch Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the introduction of coaching in the interdisciplinary care of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus in the public health care system.

Subjects and methods: Ten patients routinely attending a public health care service and with a glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level above 75% participated in eight coaching sessions. This study evaluated the patients' self-management of the disease and personal behavior. The participants were assessed at the beginning of the program and on two occasions after the intervention, with evaluation of biochemical and anthropometric data, and frequency of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). Questionnaires were applied during these evaluations to analyze emotional burden (B-PAID), medication adherence (Morisky Adherence Scale), and self-efficacy (IMDSES).

Results: HbA1c had a median level of 8.0% (range 76-10.3%) at the beginning of the study and reduced significantly 3 months after initiation of the intervention (7.78% [6.5-10%], p = 0.028), with no significant increase at 6 months (8.3% [713-9.27%], p = 0.386). SMBG improved significantly from the beginning to the end of the study, with the median number of glucose tests per week varying from 16.5 (range 0-42) at baseline to 29.0 (7-42) at 3 months and 27.5 (10-48) at 6 months (p = 0.047). No significant differences were observed in anthropometric parameters or in the scores of the instruments between the three measurements.

Conclusion: A coaching intervention focused on patients' values and sense of purpose may provide added benefit to traditional diabetes education programs and could be an auxiliary method to help individuals with type 1 diabetes achieve their treatment goals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Wheel of self-care in diabetes filled out by one of the participants. Note that physical activity was the area that received the lowest score, followed by self-monitoring of blood glucose, glycemic control, and nutrition. The areas received different scores, resulting in a rather irregular wheel due to treatment imbalance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gomes MB, Coral M, Cobas RA, Dib SA, Canani LH, Nery M, et al Prevalence of adults with type 1 diabetes who meet the goals of care in daily clinical practice: a nationwide multicenter study in Brazil. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2012;97(1):63-70. - PubMed
    1. Dean AJ, Walters J, Hall A. A systematic review of interventions to enhance medication adherence in children and adolescents with chronic illness. Arch Dis Child. 2010;95(9):717-23. - PubMed
    1. Olsen JM, Nesbitt BJ. Health coaching to improve healthy lifestyle behaviors: an integrative review. Am J Health Promot. 2010;25(1):e1-e12. - PubMed
    1. Palmer S, Tubbs I, Whybrow A. Health coaching to facilitate the promotion of healthy behaviour and achievement of health-related goals. Int J Heal Promot Educ. 2003;41(3):91-3.
    1. Wong-Rieger D, Rieger FP. Health coaching in diabetes: empowering patients to self-manage. Can J diabetes. 2013;37(1):41-4. - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources