A forthcoming scoping review protocol explores how healthcare professionals deliver diabetes self-management education, with a focus on improving training, cultural responsiveness, and outcomes amid rising global prevalence.
A new protocol in Frontiers in Health Services sets out a scoping review to examine how diabetes education is delivered by healthcare professionals and, crucially, how good that education actually is. The authors say the work is needed because diabetes remains a major global health burden, with the International Diabetes Federation estimating 589 million adults were living with the condition in 2024, a figure projected to rise sharply by 2050.
The review will focus on Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support, the structured approach used to help people with diabetes understand their condition, make day-to-day decisions and reduce the risk of complications. The protocol argues that while the evidence base around diabetes education has grown, it is still uneven, with much of the literature concentrating on patient outcomes rather than the competence, communication, cultural responsiveness and fidelity of the education delivered by healthcare professionals. That gap is especially important in lower- and middle-income countries, where workforce shortages, heavy caseloads and limited training opportunities can weaken the consistency of care.
To organise the evidence, the authors plan to use the Arksey and O’Malley framework for scoping reviews, later refined by Levac and colleagues and shaped further by the Joanna Briggs Institute. That approach has become a standard route for mapping broad and heterogeneous bodies of evidence, and the protocol also follows PRISMA-ScR reporting guidance. Data extraction will be structured around Donabedian’s structure-process-outcome model, a framework that separates the conditions in which care is delivered, the way it is delivered and the results that follow.
The planned search will cover major databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase, alongside grey literature from sources such as the World Health Organization and professional bodies. Only peer-reviewed English-language studies published between 2015 and 2025 will be included. The authors say that window is intended to capture contemporary practice, including the spread of mobile health tools, telehealth and other digital approaches now being woven into diabetes education.
If completed as planned, the review should do more than catalogue studies. The authors say it is intended to identify gaps in training, implementation and quality assurance, with particular attention to underserved settings where effective education is often hardest to deliver. They expect the findings to inform professional training, strengthen policy and practice, and point researchers towards the areas most in need of better evidence.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
