Diabetes and play therapy

Abstract

Context: Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disorder needing 24 × 7 × 365 care and attention. In these children, adherence to prescribed medical regimens and monitoring on a continuous basis is one of the most challenging problems faced by the medical community. Self-management becomes very essential for ensuring good outcomes, since psychosocial factors also play a crucial role in regimen adherence and glycemic control. Aim: This article aims to describe the utility of play therapy in diabetes management. Play therapy is a useful approach that can help in establishing a dynamic interpersonal relationship between the child and the therapist in a playful unconventional manner, supporting in their learning process for self-management. Materials and methods: This communication reviews available literature on play therapy, and describes examples of play therapy used in a mulitnational programme. The changing diabetes in children program focused at reaching out to the economically underprivileged children with type 1 diabetes, has implemented two useful play therapy tools to help the type 1 child learn to take insulin injections and understand the basic do′s and don′ts for proper diabetes management. Conclusion: Play-therapy is useful in making the difficult task of managing diabetes interesting and easy.

Diabetes education tools - good habits - insulin taking site rotation - insulin taking technique - motivation - Novo Nordisk teaches to take insulin doll - play therapy - psychosocial factors - snakes and ladders - type 1 diabetes

• References

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