Global effort to reduce suicide in people with diabetes awareness to be discussed at event for healthcare professionals

International efforts to tackle rates of suicide and self-harm in people with diabetes will be the focus of a compelling workshop at this year’s Diabetes Professional Care conference.

Suicide is approximately twice as prevalent among people with diabetes – however, this figure is believed to be much higher due to challenges around identification and recording of events.

One study found that adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes have 61% higher odds of reporting suicidal thoughts than those without diabetes. While adolescence is a considerable risk factor for suicide, it affects people across all ages and gender. 

One of the workshops at this year’s Diabetes Professional Care, which takes place at Olympia London on 10th and 11th November, will address this important but poorly understood subject, highlighting the key issues and the different ways they are being tackled.

The programme for this year’s Diabetes Professional Care is set to tackle some of the biggest issues facing healthcare professionals.

Diabetes Professional Care returns as an in-person event at Olympia London on 10th and 11th November and has been re-designed in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

The programme for the CPD-certified (continuing professional development) event for healthcare professionals working in diabetes is now available to view online.

Delegates will hear about work by the FDA RESCUE Collaborative Community (REducing SuiCide rates amongst individUals with diabEtes), an international community of key stakeholders and experts set up to focus on this issue. 

In addition, the results of a survey of healthcare professional (HCP) perspectives on depression and suicide amongst people with diabetes will be presented as part of the discussion.

The highlights of the findings include:

• The vast majority of healthcare professionals believed that routine diabetes visits are an appropriate place for discussions about depression and suicidal ideation;
• Most healthcare professionals are at least moderately comfortable asking patients about self-harm or suicidal ideation, though some were uncomfortable and expressed concerns about lacking the knowledge or resources to provide support;
• Less than a quarter of healthcare professionals had specific postgraduate training regarding self-injury and suicide;
• Most healthcare professionals had access to social workers and/or psychologists who could address patients’ psychosocial concerns.

Among the speakers will be Professor Katharine Barnard-Kelly, a Professor of Health Psychology, who set up the FDA RESCUE Collaborative Community after being approached by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration.

Professor Barnard-Kelly is also the author of the DRWF diabetes information leaflets on sexual health for men and women living with diabetes.

Professor Barnard-Kelly said: “The goal of the FDA RESCUE Collaborative Community is to reduce rates of intended self-injury and suicidal acts by people with diabetes through improved understanding of risk factors and the implementation of strategies to address them.

“We have a multi-faceted approach including, but not limited to, research, education, messaging and improving identification/coding. To this end, we will be reporting data from our initial research and providing insights into the enormity of the challenge and what we are doing to address it.”

The theme of DPC2021 is ‘Rebooting diabetes care’ with key issues including the impact of Covid-19 on diabetes-related conditions being explored during the free to attend event. Interactive workshops, expert speakers and topical panel discussions will give delegates exclusive access to specialist education and clinical skills training.

DPC2021 is open to any healthcare professional involved in the prevention, treatment and management of diabetes and its related conditions.

DPC2021 is open to any healthcare professional involved in the prevention, treatment and management of diabetes and its related conditions.

Register to attend Diabetes Professional Care 2021 here

Please note: This event is for healthcare professionals only to support continuing professional development

Find out more about Diabetes Professional Care 2021

DRWF are proud to partner the 2021 Diabetes Professional Care event as registration sponsor.

United Through Diabetes

Last year DRWF partnered with the organisers of Diabetes Professional Care (DPC) to provide an innovative virtual conference, entitled United Through Diabetes and held on World Diabetes Day – 14th November 2020.

For registration and more details on United Through Diabetes for people living with diabetes click here

UTD is an event organised in collaboration between DRWF and DPC for people living with all types of diabetes. Details coming soon. Don’t miss out!

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