LIVINGLIVING
TOOL FOR CHANGE
Matching care to the individual to make the most of diabetes
interventions (as well as your time spent in waiting rooms).
P
rofessor Katharine
Barnard, Chartered
Health Psychologist,
is a founder of BHR
Ltd, 'translating
clinical research into quality of life'. She
specializes in the psychosocial impact
and management of diabetes and has
published more than 170 scientific articles
in academic journals.
Barnard has specific expertise in
the facilitators and barriers to optimal
glycaemic control and quality of life for
people living with diabetes.
Along with Dr Ralph Ziegler and others
she has developed a personal health
system called KALMOD. This is a tool that
would be used by people with diabetes
and their healthcare professionals in
routine outpatient consultations.
Based on the Kaleidoscope Model of
Care*, the KALMOD tool focuses in on
the aspects of diabetes self-management
that each person needs the most support
with at the time of their consultation. Says
Barnard, "It is a tool that can be used in
a dynamic way that addresses not only
the medical aspects but also the nonmedical factors that impact on diabetes
care. By presenting HCPs with priorities
that people with diabetes have identified
for themselves using the tool, it helps
HCPs to provide personalised support to
meet the unique needs of each person."
The way it works is that the person
with diabetes completes a brief online
questionnaire (securely hosted) that
assesses how they feel about a range
of factors that can impact positively
or negatively on their diabetes selfmanagement. These assessments are
then presented in easy-to-use results.
Barnard points out, "When anyone
approaches new therapy or technology
there are expectations both on behalf of
the individual, their family and the their
HCPs that it will work. Yet this doesn't
always happen, resulting in frustration,
feelings of failure and despair and poorer
outcomes, with 70% of adults not reaching
their HbA1c targets in the UK. All of these