Support groups are exciting, educational meetings

At a recent dia­betes infor­ma­tion and sup­port group meet­ing, the atten­dees were invited to ask me ques­tions. The first ques­tion was easy to answer and it led to an expla­na­tion of basic dia­betes facts. Rep­e­ti­tion in adult learn­ing is a vital key to remembering.

There is a great con­cern for folks who refuse to attend a sup­port group because they believe that they know it all. Cur­rently, there are more than 400 research projects occur­ring world wide. A dia­betic edu­ca­tor must stay up to date on all of the lat­est devel­op­ments and treat­ments. Attend­ing a group meet­ing for dia­betes infor­ma­tion gives a per­son a heads up on how to best deal with their disease.

Par­tic­i­pa­tion in an infor­ma­tion or sup­port group does not show a weak­ness; it demon­strates strength. Knowl­edge is power and sit­ting in a room with oth­ers who deal with the same issue encour­ages sta­ble blood sugar con­trol. This deadly dis­ease affects nearly 10 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion in the United States; that is close to 26 mil­lion peo­ple. Sup­port groups should be more pop­u­lar than they are.

The atten­dees of the group that I facil­i­tate always look at me with a strange screwed-up face when I exclaim that this is an excit­ing time to deal with dia­betes. I can read their minds, they are think­ing, “This lady is crazy!”

Then I explain that years ago treat­ment was lim­ited by tech­nol­ogy and knowl­edge. In the past 20 years, the study of dia­betes has taken a giant step for­ward. I tell them, “This ain’t your grandma’s diabetes.”

As I men­tioned above, rep­e­ti­tion is a key in adult edu­ca­tion. Hear­ing old and new infor­ma­tion one more time only fur­ther edu­cates an adult learner. While answer­ing ques­tions for a group, I have no idea if some­one is hear­ing the facts for the first time or the fifti­eth time. When I start see­ing heads nod in agree­ment I know that true learn­ing is tak­ing place. It is exciting.

Fam­ily and social sup­port is very impor­tant to liv­ing with dia­betes. Sup­port means more than ask­ing some­one what they can eat at a pic­nic or fam­ily gath­er­ing. Sup­port can also mean encour­ag­ing reg­u­lar phys­i­cal exer­cise. Going on a walk with some­one with dia­betes not only improves insulin sen­si­tiv­ity and strength­ens mus­cle mass, it reduces stress and pro­duces hor­mones that affect their entire mood.

A note, email, phone call or visit with some­one with dia­betes lets them know that they are not alone. Peo­ple with dia­betes expe­ri­ence more depres­sion than those in the gen­eral pop­u­la­tion. Stay­ing in con­tact with them and shar­ing lov­ing con­cern is a pos­i­tive action that can help them over­come neg­a­tive feel­ings. Please do not nag or neg­a­tively remind peo­ple of their dis­ease. They already tor­ment them­selves enough.

Meet­ing in a group of oth­ers deal­ing with this dis­ease pro­motes con­sis­tency with treat­ment. I like to encour­age the par­tic­i­pants of my groups to look around the room and smile at each other. They are the smart ones. They believe in them­selves as the man­ager of this dis­ease. They believe in rep­e­ti­tion. They believe that they can live hap­pily what­ever the cir­cum­stance. I am hon­ored to be the facilitator.

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor, reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Jun 13 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.