The Indian family fights diabetes: Results from the second Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN2) study

The recently conducted DAWN2 study assessed the views and perceptions of various stakeholders, in 17 countries, on issue related to diabetes care. In short, DAWN2 is a multinational, interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder study conducted in the following 17 countries from four continents: Algeria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the USA.[1] [2] [3] These stakeholders included not only people with diabetes (PWD) and health care professionals (HCPs) but also family members of PWD (FM).[1] [2] [3] The DAWN2 study reported that FM experience significant impairment in psychological well-being, distress related to diabetes and negative impact on their own life.[2] A large number of FM feel frustrated as they do not know how best to help the PWD in their families and are worried about the risk of hypoglycemia in PWD. In spite of all these issues, the majority of FM are willing to increase their involvement in diabetes care and in helping PWD deal with their emotions related to diabetes.[2]

The Indian society has always enjoyed a strong family structure. Traditional teaching enjoins parents to take care of their children when they are young, and children are expected to look after aged parents as well. Although the age-old joint family structure is gradually giving way to nuclear set-ups, kinship and family ties still remain strong in India. Indian HCPs score the third highest among all 17 DAWN2 countries in agreeing that the involvement of FM is a vital part of good diabetes care.[3] The Indian data regarding these issues, therefore, needs to be analyzed further.

• References

• 1 Nicolucci A, Kovacs BurnsK, Holt RI, Comaschi M, Hermanns N, Ishii H. et al. Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs second study (DAWN2™): Cross-national benchmarking of diabetes-related psychosocial outcomes for people with diabetes. Diabet Med 2013; 30: 767-777
• 2 Kovacs BurnsK, Nicolucci A, Holt RI, Willaing I, Hermanns N, Kalra S. et al. Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs second study (DAWN2™): Cross-national benchmarking indicators for family members living with people with diabetes. Diabet Med 2013; 30: 778-788
• 3 Holt RI, Nicolucci A, Kovacs BurnsK, Escalante M, Forbes A, Hermanns N. et al. Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs second study (DAWN2™): Cross-national comparisons on barriers and resources for optimal care-healthcare professional perspective. Diabet Med 2013; 30: 789-798