Dr Ashley Ng

Peer support is not a sexy research topic. Some researchers and clinicians think that peer support is a just a fluffy, nice to have thing for people to have a cup of tea and gossip. Yet, people in the diabetes community will tell you that peer support is the one greatest asset they could have to support their dabetes management.

I was privileged to be able to share the research behind peer support at the recent Primary Care Diabetes Conference as part of the World Diabetes Day celebrations. We had a whole session dedicated to peer support with the lovely Deb Thorpe sharing the perspective of peer support from a diabetes educator perspective and Renza Scibilia, who blogs at Diabetogenic, on her personal experience.

Across our presentations, a few common themes stood out. Living with diabetes sucks and it can be very isolating. Hearing stories that resonated with people, helped them feel less alone. Being around people who “got it” validated their experiences and feelings. They gained confidence to self-manage and advocate for their needs. Peer support groups are also a key source to keep up to date with diabetes news and technology and to learn diabetes management tricks and tips beyond the textbook aka “diabetes hacks”.

For me, diabetes peer support groups is also a great way to break down the stigma around diabetes from within the community. It’s eye-opening and humbling to read/hear different perspectives on life with diabetes. Sadly, some healthcare professionals still view peer support groups with skeptism. Often, I hear concerns around “who knows what they’re talking about behind closed doors”. You also see memes around “don’t confuse your Google search with my medical degree”.

We need to stop treating the community like idiots. Within the diabetes community there are amazing experts, researchers and healthcare professionals. Coupled with common sense, the community is a self-regulating group and can sniff out a fake cure 5 years before it gets announced. It’s also important to acknowledge that people living with diabetes are experts of their own bodies and their lives. The diabetes communities does value medical expertise, they just want to be part of the conversation and decision making around what happens to their lives when it comes to managing diabetes. Challenging hierarchial medical norms may be hard, but I’d encourage healthcare professionals to meet their patients where they’re at and see them as people first rather than their condition.

These days, I reflect on peer support in the same vein as mothers groups for first time mums. It’s incredible that this service exists for mothers because I certainly would be absolutely lost without it. I hope to see more research and integration of peer support opportunities across the diabetes medical community in Australia in the future. The power of peer support is certainly one of the most underrated tools in a person’s diabetes management toolkit.