Adults with diabetes who perceive family members’ behaviour as unsupportive are less adherent to their medication regimen
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, USA
- Correspondence to: Richard W Grant
Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2101 Webster, Oakland, CA 93452, USA; richard.w.grant{at}kp.org
Commentary on:
Implications for practice and research
-
Understanding the family dynamics is crucial to improve diabetes management.
-
Family members can both support and sabotage the patient's self-management efforts.
Context
Adults with type 2 diabetes see their physician more often than most other patients. National survey data indicate that the typical patient with diabetes will have seven to nine appointments in a year with their primary provider and additional visits with specialists, nurses and educators.1 Added together over the course of a year clinical care interactions represent <1% of an individual's daily life. For the other 99% of the time, people must self-manage their disease within the …
