6 voices in 10 minutes: How to bring diabetes education to school

Abstract

6 voices in 10 minutes: Expanding the horizons of education

How to bring diabetes education to school

Children and adolescents are part of a family (parents and extended family) responsible for their care, and they also spend many hours of their lives in different areas such as schools and other community spaces. All these areas are influenced by cultural aspects, level of education, family means and resources and are undoubtedly crossed by social inequity and inequality. It is for this reason that pediatric care teams must take all these aspects into account when monitoring children and adolescents with diabetes, taking care of the well-being of all these environments.

The school constitutes one of these areas, perhaps the most important, for this reason we believe that it is essential that there be a link between the schools attended by children with diabetes and the health system in charge of their comprehensive monitoring. Childhood and adolescent diabetes coexists in both systems (educational and healthcare) and because it is a chronic condition, it is feasible that children who suffer from it must live with it at some point during their time at school. There is currently evidence about the impact that diabetes can generate and the implications of its metabolic control on the neurocognitive development and learning of children.