Assessment of the complexity of drug therapy and psychosocial and behavioral aspects in people living with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a public health problem worldwide. The complexity of drug therapy and behavioral aspects are important factors in its management. Objective To characterize the complexity of drug therapy, attitudes, empowerment and self-care in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods Observational descriptive study involving people with type 2 diabetes mellitus recruited in eight public primary care settings in Brazil, 2018. We used validated instruments to determine the complexity of drug therapy employing the Medication Regimen Complexity Index, and to describe the behavioral aspects, encompassing Diabetes Attitudes Questionnaires, Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form and Diabetes Mellitus Care Self-Management. Results The 119 participants showed median age of 64 years (Quartile 1 57.0; Quartile 3 71.0) with predominance of women (68.1%). We found high percentages of participants with low scores on attitudes (87.9%) and self-care (84.8%) questionnaires, but with high scores on empowerment questionnaire (81.8%) in groups with high complexity of drug therapy. Conclusion High complexity of drug therapy concentrated low scores for attitudes and self-care, even though presenting elevated empowerment scores. Further studies are needed to investigate the effect of these aspects on the behavior of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus on drug therapies of high complexity.

[A proposal of continuing health education to update health team professionals in diabetes mellitus]. / A proposta da educação permanente em saúde na atualização da equipe de saúde em diabetes mellitus.

The objective of the study was to report the experience of Continuing Health Education to update the health team of a Health Center about comprehensive and humanized care to individuals with type 2 diabetes. The methodology used to train the health teams was Continuing Health Education by means of educational workshops in diabetes focused on the problem-posing of the professional and educational process. Hence, it was sought to design a program for education in diabetes with a view to changing and reorienting the practice of the health team. Continuing Education helped to integrate the individuals, strengthened the professional commitment and developed the group awareness. The experience of including education in the everyday activities of the health teams helped to improve the integration among university, service and community, thus favoring the process of planning and organizing the educational program, valuing interdisciplinarity.