Diabetic Medicine special issue highlights the work of the PSAD in understanding the psychosocial experience of living with diabetes
In 1995, the PsychoSocial Aspects of Diabetes (PSAD) Study Group was established as an official study group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). Twenty-five years later, the March 2020 issue of Diabetic Medicine is a special issue to commemorate the contribution of the PSAD Study Group to improving outcomes for people living with diabetes.
The aims of PSAD were to stimulate communication between researchers and clinicians in the field, improve the quality of psychological and social research in diabetes, and stimulate dissemination of effective diabetes care. Professor Frank Snoek was the founding chair and you can read his reflections here. Since then, the PSAD has been instrumental in promoting leading international collaborations, which have stretched beyond Europe to the US, South America and Australia. In particular, these include the Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN) study, a large global study of the psychosocial needs of people with diabetes; and the European Depression in Diabetes (EDID) research consortium, which explores and promotes consensus on the management of depression in people with diabetes.
This month’s Diabetic Medicine includes 14 papers on various aspects of behavioural and psychosocial aspects of diabetes, in three broad categories: emotional wellbeing, diabetes self-management, and the lived experience. As proud members of the PSAD Study Group, several ACBRD researchers have been delighted to contribute to this special issue. Alongside Prof Arie Nouwen (current Chair, PSAD) and Prof Frans Pouwer (immediate past Chair, PSAD), Prof Jane Speight was a guest co-editor of the issue. Dr Christel Hendrieckx led a paper which tracks changes in attitudes and understanding of the impact of hypoglycaemia on a person’s emotional wellbeing and what psychology can contribute to the prevention of hypoglycaemia. Dr Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott and colleagues reported on the psychosocial factors impacting an important self-management behaviour – medication taking – in adults with type 2 diabetes. Dr Amelia Lake and colleagues reviewed the evolution of health behaviour change intervention development, providing examples of application within diabetes. Finally, Prof Jane Speight led a paper outlining key issues and developments in the assessment of the impact of diabetes on quality of life. Additional papers cover several important issues impacting people with diabetes, including the link between depression and diabetes, diabetes-related distress, disordered eating, relationship between diabetes and sleep, self-management education and diabetes technology.
At the ACBRD, we are proud to be active members of this Study Group. We encourage you to view the PSAD anniversary special issue which has been made freely available to all, to fully appreciate the scope of behavioural and psychosocial research in diabetes that has been conducted in the past quarter century.
Special issue to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Psychosocial Aspects of Diabetes Study Group. Diabetic Medicine, 2020; 37(3).
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