Abstract
Diabetes distress (DD) is the emotional response a person experiences when living with diabetes and the burden of daily self-management or its long-term complications. Greater DD is associated with both harmful health and psychological outcomes, including suboptimal self management, elevated hemoglobin A1C, frequent hypoglycemia episodes, and impaired quality of life (Diabetes UK, 2023). The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends routinely monitoring for DD when treatment goals are not met or early at the onset of complications (ADA, 2020). Screening for DD will assist providers in identifying DD among patients who are not achieving their glycemic targets. However, providers are unaware of the significance of DD, or the screening tools available to help identify problems causing emotional distress for the patient. The psychological aspect of diabetes care may present a barrier for patients that hinders them from achieving optimal self-care management and improved patient outcomes (ADA, 2020). In this quality improvement project, a DD screening protocol was developed to screen for DD using the validated Problem Areas of Diabetes (PAID) screening tool among adult diabetes mellitus patients at an endocrinology practice and the providers and staff were educated about diabetes distress. The purpose was to evaluate if the presence of the DD screening protocol improved screening for DD and subsequent intervention for further management among those who screened positive. There was a significant improvement in the staff and providers’ knowledge regarding DD based on the pre-and post-knowledge questionnaire results. Among patients with diabetes who were screened, 22% of participants were identified with severe DD. These participants were given the proper resources and further referrals to improve outcomes.