Quality Standards for Diabetes Care Toolkit

Guidelines

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline for the Management of Diabetes (116) (2010) recommends the following:
Regular assessment of a broad range of psychological and behavioural problems in children and adults with type 1 diabetes:

In children this should include eating disorders, behavioural, emotional and family functioning problems.

In adults this should include anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

Health professionals working in diabetes should have sufficient levels of consulting skills to be able to identify psychological problems and be able to decide whether or not referral to a specialist service is required.

Validated screening tools widely used to assess psychological distress in the general population(eg, HADS) may be used in adults or young people with diabetes.

Health care professionals should be aware of cultural differences in type and presentation of psychological problems within different ethnic communities living with diabetes and facilitate appropriate psychological/emotional support.

Children and adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes should be offered psychological interventions to improve glycaemic control in the short and long term.

Health care professionals working with adults and children with diabetes should refer those with significant psychological problems to services or colleagues with expertise in this area www.sign.ac.uk/pdf/sign116.pdf.