Purpose of review: Diabetes represents a chronic illness with significant physical and psychological morbidities. This review aims to summarize current conceptualizations of diabetes burnout in individuals with diabetes and describe its associated adverse outcomes in this population while proposing possible mechanisms of action and targets of intervention.
Recent findings: "Diabetes burnout" may result in adverse long-term outcomes including poor treatment compliance, diabetes complications, and depression. Diabetes burnout may impact not only individuals, but also providers, and caregivers and family members of affected individuals. Diabetes burnout may results from sustained cognitive stresses of chronic treatment adherence, assessment of realistic treatment goals, and treatment challenges. Early screening and interdisciplinary approaches for patient-centered diabetes care are critical for sustained diabetes social support. Future work exploring these approaches may identify early support and targeted interventions for the long-term support of individuals with diabetes.
Keywords: Diabetes burnout; Individuals with diabetes; Psychosocial diabetes care.