Person-centered diabetes care and patient activation in people with type 2 diabetes.

introductionThe American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes advocate a person-centered approach to enhance patient engagement in self-care activities. To that purpose, people with diabetes need adequate diabetes knowledge, motivation, skills and confidence. These prerequisites are captured by the concept 'patient activation'. The Dutch Diabetes Federation implemented a person-centered consultation model for the annual diabetes review. To assess its relationship with patient activation, we measured the RESEARCH DESIGN AND

methodsObservational study in 47 primary care practices and six outpatient hospital clinics. FOLLOW-UP: 1 year. From 2.617 people with diabetes and capable of completing questionnaires (no additional exclusion criteria) 1.487 (56.8%) participated, 1366 with type 2 diabetes. MAIN OUTCOME: patient activation (13-item Patient Activation Measure, score 0-100). Before the first and after the second review, participants completed questionnaires. Medical data were retrieved from electronic records. We performed a repeated measure analysis using a linear mixed model in 1299 participants, who completed the first set of questionnaires.

resultsIn 1299 participants (41.6% female, mean age 66 years, median diabetes duration 10 years, median glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) 6.8%/51 mmol/mol), the mean baseline activation level was 58.9 (SD 11.7). Independent of actual diabetes care, activation levels increased 1.53 units (95% CI 0.67 to 2.39, p=0.001). Several diabetes perceptions improved significantly; diabetes distress level decreased significantly. Body mass index (-0.22, 95% CI -0.33 to -0.10, p<0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-2.71 mg/dL, 95% CI -4.64 to -0.77, p=0.004) decreased, HbA1c increased 0.08% (95% CI 0.03 to 0.12) (p=0.001).

conclusionsPerson-centered diabetes care was associated with a slightly higher patient activation level, improved diabetes perception and small improvements in clinical outcomes. Person-centered care may enhance patient engagement, but one should not expect substantial improvement in patient outcomes in the short term.