Diabetes
It is estimated that 5% of Canadians are currently diagnosed with diabetes and the numbers are growing. Rigorous management of the disease is necessary for patients to stay healthy. People with diabetes are more likely to experience problems with mobility, social situations, and daily living duties.
For more diabetes information:
Canadian Diabetes Association
Canada Public Health Agency site on Diabetes
Emotional Health
Emotional unease is a fairly common problem, as 16% of the population diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime. Typical symptoms are changes in mood, feelings of sadness, and loss of interest in usually pleasant activities. Among the negative effects of emotional unease are functional impairment, disability, and days lost from work. Treatment in such cases usually involves a combination of medication, psychotherapy, and/or lifestyle changes.
For additional information:
College of Family Physicians of Canada
Canadian Mental Health Association
Diabetes and Emotional Health
Emotion problems have been shown to affect 10 to 30% of diabetes patients. It has also been shown that emotionally uneasy diabetic patients have a harder time following their prescribed regimen, and are at increased risk for diabetes-specific complications. It is believed that emotional unease can affect successful management of diabetes because of its negative influence on the patients’ quality of life, physical activity levels, impaired ability to communicate their condition effectively to their doctors, and by reduced adherence to prescribed regimens. In fact, a recent study found that patients with diabetes showed worse health-related quality of life if they were feeling down.
Your participation in this study is crucial to understanding more about the role of emotional health in diabetes, so that changes into diabetes treatment can be introduced to improve the management of this disease.