“We are more than just a number”: Mental health needs in the context of diabetes healthcare in Ireland

TL;DR

People with diabetes in Ireland often face mental health challenges, but these are not adequately addressed in current healthcare practices.

Contribution

The study highlights unmet mental health needs in diabetes care and identifies barriers to integrating mental health support into routine healthcare.

Findings

Participants reported feelings of isolation and daily life disruptions linked to diabetes.

Access to psychological support is seen as crucial, but current healthcare provision is lacking.

Healthcare professionals often overlook mental health in diabetes treatment.

Abstract

People living with diabetes often experience diabetes-related distress and have a higher incidence of mental health problems such as depression. For this reason, assessment and treatment of mental health is an important part of complex diabetes care. In Ireland, the importance of mental health in diabetes care was recently illustrated by the new national healthcare guidelines. The current study investigated the mental health needs of people living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Ireland and the extent which these needs are met within existing healthcare provision.

We organized two workshops where we collected written and oral responses through a survey and group discussions from 30 people diagnosed with diabetes. Likert-type scale responses were analyzed through frequency statistics while open answers were analyzed using a content analysis approach.

Two main themes were identified which related to mental health aspects of living with diabetes namely 1) the feelings of isolation, and 2) the burden of daily life disruptions. Participants believed that diabetes significantly affected mental health and that access to psychological support is important for people living with diabetes. Many participants were dissatisfied by the lack of opportunities to discuss wellbeing and diabetes-related distress with their general practitioner and wished for better access to mental health support services.

These findings suggest that some healthcare professionals tend to overlook mental health when treating people living with diabetes, an issue that may extend beyond Ireland. Further research is needed to identify and address the barriers preventing the integration of effective mental health assessments and interventions into routine healthcare practice.

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