Self-Management Pathways for diabetic patients: Early findings of the EMPOWER pilot studies

Diabetes is a serious world-wide medical challenge, which affected 382 million people in 2013. This paper describes, how the European Commission supported EMPOWER project fosters the self-management of diabetes patients. The Self-Management Pathways help patients in specifying planned activities based on medical recommendations and personal goals, as well as self-monitoring of Observations of Daily Living (ODLs). The whole process is supported by modern ICT services that motivate patients in changing their lifestyle and adhere to defined medication and activity plans. The system is being validated in Germany and Turkey. Early findings of the first validation phase are described.