Thirty years on, psychosocial care remains central to diabetes research and management

Celebrating three decades of the PsychoSocial Aspects of Diabetes Study Group, a special issue of Diabetic Medicine underscores the ongoing importance of psychosocial factors in diabetes care, highlighting advances and future priorities in understanding emotional and social challenges faced by people living with diabetes.

The PsychoSocial Aspects of Diabetes Study Group is marking 30 years with a special issue of Diabetic Medicine that its editors say is intended to underline how central psychosocial care remains in diabetes research. Dr Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott, writing for the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes, said she co-edited the issue with Rita Forde and Maartje de Wit, and that the group has spent three decades bringing together researchers focused on the psychological, social and emotional realities of living with diabetes. The anniversary issue, published in Diabetic Medicine, is framed as both a retrospective and a statement of purpose for the years ahead.

The editorial opening the collection argues that advances in medicines and devices are not enough on their own. According to the Diabetic Medicine editorial, the benefits of better treatments and technology depend on whether they fit into the daily lives of people who must use them, and whether clinicians understand the stress, burden and decision-making involved in long-term diabetes management. That message reflects a broader shift in the field over the past 30 years, from a narrow focus on clinical outcomes towards a more complete view of living with the condition.

The special issue contains 12 papers exploring current challenges and possible future directions in psychosocial diabetes research. The journal and the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes both describe the collection as a sign that the field has matured, while also showing how much remains to be done in areas such as emotional wellbeing, social support, self-management and the lived experience of diabetes. The editors say the work is intended to keep people with diabetes at the centre of care, rather than treating psychosocial factors as a secondary concern.

For Holmes-Truscott and her co-editors, the 30th anniversary is less a milestone to admire than a reminder of why the work still matters. They say the PSAD community continues to champion research that recognises that treatments only succeed when they work for the people who use them every day. In that sense, the anniversary issue is presented not just as a celebration of progress, but as a call to sustain research that connects clinical innovation with the realities of daily diabetes care.