Structured education for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus

This chapter discusses how structured self-management education has become an integral component of the long-term care of type 2 diabetes in supporting individuals to initiate and sustain effective self-management. We will briefly explore the background and context for structured education, identify and discuss its defining characteristics, and briefly comment on the evidence base as reported in the last 10 years. Finally, drawing on currently active structured self-management programmes in the UK and Europe as exemplars, we will examine the benefits of structured education in terms of the patient outcomes reported in some key research studies.