Collective empowerment strategies for patients with Diabetes Mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Aims: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and analyze collective empowerment strategies for patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Methods: The systematic review was performed using PubMed/MEDLINE, Science Direct and BVS. The term Diabetes Mellitus was used with each of the following describers, along with the connector AND: self-care, health education, motivation and empowerment. Inclusion criteria were: intervention study with control group published between 2004 and 2014. For meta-analysis, RevMan V 5.3 software was used. Results: Among the nine analyzed articles, 66.7% (n=6) were developed in patients diagnosed with DM2. Concerning the indicators for intervention effectiveness evaluation, all articles (n=9) used glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and the most used instrument was Summary of Diabetes Self Care Activities Measure, representing 44.4% (n=4) of the studies. The types of strategies used were similar in the articles. There was evidence of a decrease in HbA1c levels in 66.7% (n=6). The meta-analysis found significant evidence indicating beneficial effects of empowerment. Conclusions: Programs based on collective empowerment in DM have shown the interventions lead to improvement in clinical parameters, behavior, increased knowledge about DM, and self-care. (C) 2016 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.