JDRF – Long Island Chapter
2nd Annual Educational Seminar
“Living With Diabetes”
Saturday, March 1st, 2008
Groups,
in general, whether it is a support group or a therapy group are empowering. One
of the primary advantages of a group is that people feel less alone. Both are fellowships of people with a common bond with
a common illness. They can play an important role in education and behavioral
change in diabetes care.
DIABETES SUPPORT GROUPS - The focus
of the meeting is ongoing educational, social, and emotional support.
·
Their first goal should be to educate you about diabetes.
Lack of knowledge
has often been confused with lack of motivation or compliance as a reason for the poor control of many diabetic patients.
·
The second goal should be to help you learn how to
better manage your diabetes.
Members share
their day-to-day experiences to provide practical help. Talking to other people
with diabetes, hearing their stories, and sharing yours with them can help. You can learn tips and tricks from them for better
management of your diabetes.
·
Some support groups bring in guest speakers to provide
information to members. Topics may include:
1. Medical Management
2. Nutrition and Diabetes
3. Exercise
4. Psychological Adjustment
GROUP THERAPY - A group leader (who
is knowledgeable about technical aspects of diabetes) facilitates the group interaction by interpretation, focusing the discussion,
and providing information.
·
The aim is to create an atmosphere in which members
can get to know themselves better, feel sufficiently confident to disclose their worries, and improve the way in which they
cope with their illness and their lives in general.
In the early stage
of the group process many members deny that there are any problems associated with diabetes.
However, as members become more comfortable and confident they disclose not only their deeper feelings about diabetes
but also other personal problems.
·
Group therapy offers a chance for members to vent
their worries and to gain support from fellow diabetics.
Coping with the daily
demands of diabetes is hard. Group therapy can address coping strategies that
include problem-solving and/or social skills training and use cognitive and behavioral strategies.
- Benefits of group therapy - helping people with diabetes improve coping
by:
1. Learning about
oneself through feedback from other group members about their own behavior and problems.
2. Ability to vent
deeper feelings and worries and yet feel secure and understood.
3. Increase self-esteem
and decrease social isolation by the feeling that the group is worthwhile and that members appreciate one another.
4. Gaining insight
into why people behave in the way they do.
5. Existential factors
- Members may, through the group, find a new meaning to life.
6. Normalization -
People are comforted to find that they are not alone in their misery.
7. Encouraging others
by sharing one’s own ability to cope with diabetes.
8. Relieving
feelings of uselessness and helplessness by being able to help and comfort other members of the group.
9. Members may pass
on to one another their own solutions to common problems.
10. Other members
of the group may serve as role models.
