María Tamara Polo Sánchez

Management and Education in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) can actively participate in the management of this disease, with therapeutic education playing an essential role in the optimization of knowledge, resources and skills required to achieve targets of metabolic control, reduce the onset of acute and chronic complications, and preserve quality of life. In this context, the management of DM becomes a holistic endeavor, by promoting the reasonable use of therapeutic resources by the patient’s themselves-involving self-management and self-efficacy, their families and their communities, aiming to obtain optimum results. This review summarizes current literature on the active patient-centered management of DM, in order to promote an improvement in these therapeutic goals.

Emotional state of family members of adults with retinal degeneration

Various studies have documented the emotional changes that accompany the loss of vision in people with retinal degeneration (such as Retinitis Pigmentosa), but the emotional state of family members who live with them has not been extensively studied. However it is known that chronic diseases have repercussions not only on the well-being and quality of life of those affected, but also on their families, possibly making them more susceptible to depression and/or anxiety. Results from 37 family members tested against a control group (38 people) partially supported our hypothesis and revealed that the family members showed higher levels of anxiety, especially the women, whereas partners showed higher scores in depression. The findings indicated that the family members should be re-ceiving some kind of support to help them to resolve problems associated with the progression of the visual pathology