Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, organized a panel titled “The Effect of Diabetes on Family and Family on Diabetes” on Wednesday, the 14th of October 2018, at 2:30 p.m., at Mustafa Afşin Ersoy Conference Hall. In the opening speech, the moderator of the panel and EMU Faculty of Health Sciences Dean Prof. Dr. Mehtap Malkoç stated that diabetes is in a serious increase in recent years and the increase throughout the world is calculated as 213%. Prof. Dr. Malkoç mentioned about two studies from Turkey titled “TURDEP 1” and “TURDEP 2” and stated that the results show that there is a significant increase in diabetes in Turkey.
EMU Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing Lecturer Assist. Prof. Dr. Handan Sezgin delivered a presentation considering the current status of diabetes in the world and in our country, where she also talked about the 2018 theme of the International Diabetes Federation titled “Family and Diabetes”. Assist. Prof. Dr. Sezgin informed the attendees about the effect of the family on the prevention of diabetes and its treatment.
In her speech, EMU Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology Senior Instructor Naife Sevdalı Zaim talked about the difficulties families and patients who have diabetes face and how they should get through with the disease. Zaim also mentioned the support areas patients can receive for the struggle through the changes of life style.
In the panel, Nurse Ayşe Doğan made a presentation as a Diabetes Nurse. Doğan has been working with Type 1 diabetic patients for a long time. Doğan talked about diabetes training for patients after diagnosis, the difficulties she experienced with the individuals with diabetes, expectations and solution offers.
Also, Özlem Alkan (mother of an individual with diabetes) made a speech. Alkan talked about the experiences they had in the family and her child after being diagnosed with diabetes Type 1. Ateş Farisoğlu (a diabetic participant) talked about the methods to cope with the problems that occur after being diagnosed by Type 2 diabetes. Gizem Oymacı (another diabetic participant) talked about the life of a student with Type 1 diabetes in the university. Oymacı told the attendees about what she had been through during her studies with her family and her experiences of receiving help from health professionals.
