Diabetes Education Study Group

2005 - 2006

This report could not start without expressing my gratitude to all members of the Executive Committee (Dr. Alessandra Baldelli, Dr. Andrew Brooks, Dr. Rudolf Chlup, Dr. Alain Golay, Dr. Ilana Harman-Boehm, Dr. Helen Mosnier-Pudar, Ms. Barbara Semlitsch, Ms. Maria-Despina Varakla); to the DESG Secretariat (Ms. Sonia Silva and Ms Amynah Nathoo) and to all DESG members for their commitment with the Diabetes Education Study Group Project.

I would like to give special thanks to the former presidents, Prof. Jean-Philippe Assal and Prof. Aldo Maldonato, from whom I received so much encouragement and support.

Last but not least, I also would like to show my appreciation to Servier for their generous, continued and unconditional support of the DESG. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Jean-Philippe Seta, Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Laurence Alliot, Director of the Medical Affairs Department, Mr. Sylvain Gaudron, Director of International Scientific Communication and Mr. Jean-François Mocho, International Project Leader.

Since the last General Committee Meeting, held in Athens, in January 2005, the DESG has continued its work promoting an Annual GC Workshop, launching a quarterly Newsletter, updating its Website and publishing new Teaching Letters.

The 2006 Workshop of the General Committee Members took place in Sesimbra, Portugal, from 8th to 12th February and was entitled “Therapeutic Patient Education – Principles Underlying Patient Decision Making”.

The meeting was attended by a total of 75 participants – of which 62 were members of the DESG General and Executive Committees, from 29 different countries: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

The workshop tried to show and explore the complexity of the Decision Making Process. Starting with its deconvolution, we talked about the external influences – family, society, friends, group pressures – and the internal factors – the biological system itself, personal characteristics, emotions. Later there was discussion as to how Health Care Providers can underline or minimize some of these factors in order to promote better disease control and quality of life. Reports of what is being done in some centres and countries in the TPE area were presented. The workshop had the participation of outstanding people – such as Prof. Jean-Phillipe Assal - who shared their experience and their knowledge to enrich and deepen the learning of each, as an individual and as a health care provider.

With the aim of facilitating subsequent research, eventually for meeting within the same theme and, at the same time, collecting some of the best moments of the workshop, a DVD was sent to all participants, as well as a CD containing the presentations, lectures and some pictures.

THE DESG NEWSLETTER

The DESG Newsletter was finally launched; 2 issues have been published.

The Newsletter consists of a note from the President, a summary of abstracts concerning TPE and News from TPE initiatives (symposia, workshops, meetings, etc).

The third will be published in November, before the IDF Meeting in Cape Town.

This Newsletter is sent, by e-mail, to all DESG Members. There are already about 400 contacts! The correction and update of the members’ contacts is a difficult task but we believe that this on-going effort is worthwhile.

DESG WEBSITE

After a short interruption, the DESG website is operational again, with data being updated. A DESG e-mail address was created to facilitate communication. We have received many requests for information, including how to access the DESG Materials, how to cooperate directly with the DESG, how to be a member and so on. These information requests have been received not only from European countries but from all over the world; Pakistan, Argentina and Algeria, to name just a few.

As before, most of the site is freely accessible and offers a great deal of information, publications, educational tools and other material produced by the DESG. Working in conjunction with Servier, we have collected a group of Teaching Letters and Patient Education Basics translated into other languages, apart from English, which are also available on the website. We already have Teaching Letters and Patient Education Basics provided by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Egypt, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey and these represent a total of 16 languages! Chinese is on the way…

We are in contact with Novo Nordisk in order to recover and collect all the 5 Minute Survival kits, translated into languages other than English. We have already received their Greek, Lithuanian and Portuguese versions and they will soon be available on our DESG Website.

NEW TEACHING LETTERS

Two Teaching Letters have been produced and published during this year:

N.º 34 – “Nutrition for the Child and Adolescent with Diabetes Mellitus”

N.º 35 – “Carbohydrate Counting”

A third one will be published soon: “Metaplan®: what it is and how can it be used in Diabetes Education”

All the Teaching Letters, as well as all the other DESG Materials are available and free to download from the DESG Website – www.desg.org – in Acrobat format. They are now also translated into other languages, apart from English.  The Teaching Letters will be sent by e-mail to all DESG Members.

Thanks to the initiative of Dr Evalda Danyte, a book will be published, in Lithuanian, with several Teaching Letters and the 5 Minute Survival Kits.

UNite for Diabetes INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN

The DESG actively supports the International Campaign for a UN Resolution on Diabetes publicising it through the DESG Newsletter, and calling for the mobilization for the active participation of all DESG Members. The Chairman has been invited to be a member of the European Working Group of this Campaign.

REGARDING THE EASD

1. DESG Symposium

2. The DESG stand on the 42^nd EASD Meeting

For the first time the DESG has its own booth at the EASD Meeting where slides about the last DESG GC Workshop will be projected and material distributed.

NEW MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Prof. Alain Golay’s term will expire this year and he has proposed to be replaced by Ms. Aline Lasserre

For the place of Ms. Barbara Semlitsch, whose term will also end this year, the EC proposed Ms. Sari Härmä-Rodriguez.

With the retirement of Prof. Alain Golay, the Executive Committee will be restructured.

Dr. Andrew Brooks takes the Vice-Presidency,

Dr. Ilana Harman-Bohem will be the Director of Educational Strategies and

Dr. Alessandra Baldelli will assume the Honorary Treasurer’s position.

UPDATED LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE

From the updated General Members’ List of more than 800 members from over than 100 different countries, only about 400 e-mail addresses have been updated.

Through the DESG Website, we have received 16 requests from 10 different countries applying for DESG membership, over the last three months.

The General Committee now has 57 members (from 34 countries). 18 will end their mandate this year and, besides the approval of 16 new mandates in this year’s GC meeting, the board will continue to work towards having representatives from each European country.

GRANTS AND AWARDS

The DESG sponsors some members’ participation at Therapeutic Patient Education Meetings held during this year.  I.

I. Florence 2006

The TPE Congress 2006, entitled “Patient-Centred Self-Management and Long-Term Follow Up Strategies in Diabetes and Other Chronic Diseases”, dedicated to Prof. Jean-Philippe Assal, took place in Florence, Italy, from 27^th to 30^th April. This Meeting was attended by 900 physicians, nurses, dieticians, psychologists and other health care professionals from all over the world. The DESG supported the participation of two members.

II. Sesimbra 2006

On 25^th-28^th May, 75 people met for the 7^th Sesimbra Educational Seminar in Portugal. It was entitled “Educação Terapêutica para uma maior eficácia na gestão da doença crónica” and was organized by the Portuguese Diabetes Association. This meeting was sponsored by the DESG.

III. Zinal 2006

Zinal, organized by Alain Golay and his team, had, once again, considerable impact on all participants. With over 100 participants, this meeting was entitled “Comment motiver nos patients: de la rencontre au suivi” and was held from 10^th to 13^th June 2006 in Zinal, Switzerland. The DESG fully supported the participation of a member.

IV. Barcelona 2006

“El Arte de Tratar la Diabetes” was the main theme of the Meeting held in Barcelona, Spain, organized by Daniel Figuerola and his team, from June 28^th to July 1^st. It was attended by more than 80 participants who found connecting points and the strong and close relationship between Art and Medicine.  The presence of the diva, Monserrat Caballe and her presentation about communication, art and the world of vulnerable people was an unforgettable moment. The DESG sponsored this meeting.

DESG AWARDS

To encourage research in the field of Therapeutic Patient Education, the DESG attributes two awards of EUR600 each, to the best abstracts from those selected for the 42^nd EASD Annual Meeting and one award of EUR600 to the best abstract accepted at the 11^th FEND Annual Conference. The evaluation of these abstracts was carried out by a DESG committee.

As in previous years, the chosen papers are published on the DESG Website.

SPONSORSHIP OF THE DESG

The generous support of Servier has been confirmed for the next year and continues to be of the utmost importance to this Study Group. In addition to the previously mentioned Servier board I would like to thank Dr. Bertrand Renaud and Mrs. Elmas Cicek-Malvolti, who have been outstanding partners with the DESG over the last year.

FUTURE ACTIVITIES

The 2007 GC Workshop will take place in the UK, organized by Andrew Brooks.

We intend to maintain the publication of a quarterly Newsletter.

New Teaching Letters will be published.

It is our goal to carry out a regular updating of the data present in the DESG Website.

We will maintain our grants and awards to promote research and training in Therapeutic Patient Education.

The implementation of TPE Symposia will continue to be one of the most important objectives of the DESG.