Current guidelines for diabetes self-management such as from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) do not mention group education or use of electronic applications as part of their recommendations. Perhaps this is partially because there is lack of quality evidence supporting use of either intervention. This review examines what appears to be conflicting evidence regarding clinical outcomes of group education and individual counselling strategies for people with diabetes. A final set of 14 studies was included, with a total number of 30977 participants. More than half of the studies found no significant difference between group education and individual counselling or motivational interviews. Two studies favoured group education, while two favoured individual counselling. Understanding the merits of the different approaches is important for informing health education strategies, but so far the evidence remains conflicting for clinical outcomes.
Diabetes; group education; tailored care.
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