In the school nurse’s office, I loved chatting with Sarah, a vivacious 9-year-old who had been managing her Type 1 diabetes for years. Several times a day, she stopped in to check her blood sugar and adjust her insulin dose. I asked her why one day, just to see how she answered.
“Because I’m always eating too much sugar and too many cookies, and I can’t keep my blood sugar down,” she said.
This response made me profoundly sad because she had somehow assumed she was to blame for her condition. In Type 1 diabetes, the body attacks the pancreas, keeping it from producing sufficient insulin. Even if Sarah ate a perfectly healthy diet, she would depend on insulin injections to process carbohydrates.
When I talked to Sarah’s parents, they were upset—they never realized that she thought about the disease as her fault. But this kind of hidden miscommunication is common. One way to uncover it: a technique called teach-back, which research has shown to be effective for learning.
Here’s how it works: continue here...
-- Kelly Fradin
