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
. 2024 May;18(3):667-675.
doi: 10.1177/19322968231171616. Epub 2023 May 10.

Healthcare Professional Experiences and Opinions on Depression and Suicide in People With Diabetes

Shideh Majidi  1   2 , Lauren Cohen  3 , Richard I G Holt  4 , Mark Clements  5 , Simon O'Neill  6 , Eric Renard  7 , Doug Tynan  8 , Diana Naranjo  9 , Laurel H Messer  2 , David C Klonoff  10 , Katharine Barnard-Kelly  11
Affiliations

Healthcare Professional Experiences and Opinions on Depression and Suicide in People With Diabetes

Shideh Majidi et al. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2024 May.

Abstract

Objective: People with diabetes have an increased risk of depression, intentional self-injury and self-harm (ISI), and suicide compared with the general population. This study aimed to explore experiences and awareness of healthcare professionals (HCPs) regarding depression, ISI, and suicide, and understand resource use and needs among HCPs who care for persons with diabetes (PWD).

Methods: Healthcare professionals who see children and/or adults with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes anonymously completed an online survey about their experiences, opinions, barriers, and needs surrounding identification and care of PWD with depression, ISI, and suicide.

Results: One hundred twenty-nine HCPs participated. The majority were medical doctors (MDs) or advanced practice providers (APPs). Only a quarter of MDs and APPs felt very comfortable asking about ISI or suicidal ideation (SI), whereas 20% felt they had received appropriate training to support those with ISI or SI. The primary needs reported include more training on how to ask, respond, and support those expressing ISI and SI. Healthcare professionals reported wanting better access to resources for PWD.

Discussion: The HCPs tend to underestimate SI in the diabetes population and rates of training were low. Areas to address include providing education and training to HCPs to improve identification and management of ISI and suicide risk. These data can inform the development of mechanisms to improve discussions of depression and suicide and of resources to help HCPs support PWD.

Keywords: depression; suicidal ideation; suicide; type 1 diabetes; type 2 diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: L. H. Messer has received speaking/consulting honoraria from Tandem Diabetes and Dexcom, Inc and also consults for Capillary Biomedical and Beta Bionics. Her institution receives research/project grants from Medtronic, Tandem Diabetes, Beta Bionics, Dexcom, Abbott, and Insulet Corp. R. I. G. Holt received fees for lecturing, consultancy work, and attendance at conferences from the following: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Lundbeck, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Otsuka, Sanofi, Sunovion, Takeda, and MSD. E. Renard has received speaking/consulting honoraria from A. Menarini Diagnostics, Abbott, Adelia Medical, Air Liquide SI, Astra-Zeneca, Asten, Bastide Médical, Becton-Dickinson, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Cellnovo, Dexcom Inc, Eli-Lilly, Hillo, Insulet Inc, Johnson & Johnson (Animas, LifeScan), Medtronic, Medirio, Nestlé Home Care, Novo-Nordisk, Orkyn, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, and VitalAire, and received research support from Abbott, Dexcom Inc, Insulet Inc, Roche, and Tandem.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Pompili M, Forte A, Lester D, et al.. Suicide risk in type 1 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review. J Psychosom Res. 2014;76(5):352-360. - PubMed
    1. Wang B, An X, Shi X, Zhang JA. Management of endocrine disease: suicide risk in patients with diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Endocrinol. 2017;177(4):R169-R181. - PubMed
    1. Roy T, Lloyd CE. Epidemiology of depression and diabetes: a systematic review. J Affect Disord. 2012;142(suppl):S8-S21. - PubMed
    1. Löfman S, Hakko H, Mainio A, Timonen M, Räsänen P. Characteristics of suicide among diabetes patients: a population based study of suicide victims in Northern Finland. J Psychosom Res. 2012;73(4):268-271. - PubMed
    1. Fuller-Thomson E, Sawyer JL. Lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation in a representative sample of Canadians with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2009;83(1):e9-e11. - PubMed

Publication types