Worldwide, more than 1.1 million children and adolescents
are living with diabetes, and the incidence of Type 1
Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) has been increasing, particularly at
ages below 15, with a higher prevalence in Europe than in
other regions.1
Adolescents are in a crucial phase for building their
autonomy, becoming progressively independent from their
parents and assuming more and more responsibility in
decision-making.2 During this phase, education and training
is essential for promoting T1D self-management.3 Once
there is no cure, treating T1D implies fostering healthy
growth to minimize the impact of this disease.3 The ultimate
goal for adolescents with T1D is to assume increased self-
care responsibility for managing diabetes.4
T1D is a chronic disease caused by an autoimmune reaction
in which the immune system destroys the pancreas beta
cells, preventing insulin production.5 The treatment of
diabetes is demanding and complex requiring continuous
control carried out through the management of the
following triad: diet, physical exercise, and tuning of insulin
doses.6 Regarding diet, counting carbohydrates is a complex
and challenging task (complex carbohydrates and simple
carbohydrates, e.g., glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, and
maltose). This task becomes even more complex with the
management of insulin and diet during physical
exercise/sports.6,7 Thus, managing T1D entails deep
thought on behaviors and decision-making, which is a
significant responsibility for adolescents and their families.8
Self-management focuses on self-regulation of chronic
disease and management of risk factors, and includes goal-
setting, self-monitoring, decision-making, self-care planning
and participation, self-assessment, and management of
physical, emotional, and cognitive responses associated with
behavior change.9 Promoting self-management is associated
with encouraging self-efficacy, knowledge, functionality,
and social interactions, improving mental health, providing
effective management of symptoms, a better quality of life,
and lowering the need for emergency services.10,11An
adequate self-management of the disease also drives better
health care and resource management12, preventing or
delaying secondary conditions such as micro and
macrovascular complications.13,14 Self-management of a
chronic condition is the individual ability to manage the
symptoms and treatment, physical repercussions,
psychosocial and emotional dimensions, and changes in the
lifestyle, which are inherent to chronic illness.15 Kate Lorig16
highlighted three self-management tasks (medical
management, role management and emotional
management) and several self-management skills (problem-
solving, decision-making, resource utilization, the formation
of a patient-provider partnership, action planning, and self-
tailoring).
To manage T1D is essential to have well-planned and
organized strategies and well-defined objectives.9
Management of diabetes involves knowledge about the
pathophysiologic of diabetes and acute and chronic
complications of the disease: hypo and hyperglycaemia,
insulin administration, measurement of blood glucose, and
health maintenance (diet, and physical exercise).17
Self-management support is the process of educating and
supporting people with a chronic condition, helping them
and their families understand their central role in managing
their disease.18 It includes a commitment to patient-centered
care. Implementing programs with specific strategies could
be helpful. Structured programs for T1D should integrate
topics within education, the definition of goals and
objectives, social inclusion, and self-efficiency associated
with glycaemic control measures.10 These programs
comprise psychoeducational principles, training of daily
routines, continuous support in promoting self-
management, parental engagement and participation, and
the use of new cognitive-behavioral techniques and new
technologies as motivators for adolescents is
recommended.11
It is up to the health teams within a multidisciplinary
network, particularly nurses, to facilitate and encourage the
self-management of diabetes in adolescents, therefore
contributing to a healthier and more capable population in
managing their disease.11 The team's intervention focuses on
the individual, their family, the group, and the community;
their intervention can occur in many contexts: work-based
during regular appointments, home-based, community-
based, school-based, or informal scenarios such as summer
camps.19
A preliminary search of MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL
(EBSCO), the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
and JBI Evidence Synthesis, PROSPERO, and Open
Science Framework (OSF) was conducted, and no current
or underway systematic reviews or scoping reviews
(published or in progress) on the topic were identified.
More precisely, this scoping review seeks to answer the
following questions:
a) What are the characteristics of the interventions that
promote self-management in adolescents with Type 1
Diabetes?
b) Who are the professionals responsible for implementing
the interventions?
c) What are the indicators of change in self-management
skills after the intervention?
This scoping review aims to map interventions that promote
self-management skills in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.
Methods
This scoping review follows the Joanna Briggs Institute
(JBI) guidelines for scoping reviews.20,21 This review
protocol was registered in the Open Science Framework
(OSF) (https://osf.io/z6wbj /accessed on 11 November
2022).
Eligibility criteria
Participants
This scoping review will consider studies focused on
interventions to adolescents aged 10 to 19 years old with
T1D and/or their parents/family, that have participated in
an intervention focused on self-management of diabetes,
developed, or implemented by any health professionals.
Introduction