Behavioral medicine interventions in diabetes.

Poor glycemic control is prevalent in the majority of patients with diabetes and has a strong impact on medical as well as psychological outcomes. Psychological and behavioral variables are of particular interest, as the patients themselves are the most determining factor of treatment success. Consequently, a wide range of behavioral medicine interventions are aimed at improvement in diabetes self-management, coping strategies, blood glucose awareness, and stress reduction. This review provides an overview of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in the past 18 months (from March 2008 to September 2009) that evaluated behavioral medicine interventions in patients with diabetes. The …