Update on education and empowerment

Innovative drugs and technologies open up new opportunities for patients with diabetes to achieve stable metabolic control and improve their long-term prognosis. However, the success of current therapies still depends on whether patients succeed in consistently integrating them into their everyday lives. Self-management training and coaching for different diabetes patient groups is therefore more important than ever before. The support of empowerment, motivation and skills training for self-management plays a central role in all types of diabetes and in all age groups. In recent years several structured education and training concepts have been developed and evaluated in Germany addressing the comprehensive use of current technologies. In addition, effective telemedical coaching programs and web-based training are offered for lifestyle modification and coping with diabetes-specific emotional distress.