Nudge for Environmental Restructuring in Diabetes Self-Management: Comment on Existing Systematic Reviews

Abstract

Diabetes self-management education and support are necessary for all people living with diabetes, but its accessibility is limited worldwide. Nudge strategies have been proposed as an environmental outreach for diabetes management. This article provides further insights regarding environmental restructuring nudges into the cumulative evidence on diabetes self-management interventions from existing systematic reviews that classified primary trials using the behavior change technique taxonomy (BCTTv1). Among the 137 relevant articles searched through the bibliographic databases until 2022, three systematic reviews were scrutinized. Environmental restructuring nudges have been tested in interpersonal communications for diabetes self-management. Although nudge-based techniques were used with other types of behavior techniques in various trial contexts, the independent effects of social restructuring nudges were not denied in previous meta-analyses. Environmental restructuring nudges may be feasible in diabetes management, but they are still controversial with internal and external validation. Considering care accessibility for diabetes management, social restructuring nudges applied to healthcare providers are expected to complement healthcare systems. For future implementation, the rationale for the practice should be explicit in the conceptualization and evidence synthesis of diabetes-specific nudge interventions based on global sources.