7 Areas of Diabetes Self Management Education

While diabetes self-care isn’t always easy, it can become manageable. With the help of a diabetes educator and other members of your diabetes care team, you can improve your diabetes management and reduce your risk of developing complications.

There are seven key areas of self-management for people with diabetes. It’s important to understand and set goals for improvement in each area. These key areas are called the AADE7™ Self-Care Behaviors. They are:

Healthy Eating
Learning to make healthy food choices by paying attention to nutritional content and portion sizes

Being Active
Recognizing the importance of physical activity and making a plan to start moving today

Monitoring
Learning to check and record your blood glucose levels and other numbers important to your diabetes self-care

Taking Medication
Remembering to take your medications as prescribed and understanding how they affect your body and diabetes management

Problem Solving
Gaining skills to identify problems or obstacles to your self-care behaviors and learning how to solve them

Reducing Risks
Understanding the potential complications you are at risk for with diabetes and taking steps to prevent them

Healthy Coping
Developing healthy ways of dealing with difficult times in your diabetes management

Source: AADE