Table 3. Characteristics of the DSME interventions.

Author, Year	Intervention	Setting	Provider of Education	Theoretical Underpinning	Program Length
Assah et al. [25]	A peer support intervention implemented through group meetings, personal encounters between peer supporters and group members and telephone calls	Locations related to each group’s common affinity	Peer Educators		6 months
Bett [26]	A structured education once every week for three weeks and three months follow-ups	Hospital	Nurses, Dieticians and Doctors	The Health Belief Model (HBM)	4.5 months
Debussche et al. [27]	A 1-year culturally tailored structured patient education (3 courses of 4 sessions)	Community Health Center	Trained Peer Educators	The ‘Learning Nests’ approach, derived from Socio-Constructivist Theory	12 months
	Themes addressed were cardiovascular risk management, food intake, exercise, and blood glucose and insulin management
Gill et al. [28]	A treatment algorithm and education system developed into primary health clinics	Primary Care Clinic	Nurses	Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Behavior	18 months
Hailu et al. [29]	Six educational sessions supported with illustrative pictures, handbooks and fliers customized to local conditions	University Medical Centre	Nurses		9 months
Hailu et al. [30]	Six interactive diabetes SME sessions supported by an illustrative handbook and fliers, experience-sharing, and take-home activities	University Medical Centre	Nurses		9 months
Mash et al. [31]	Four 60-minute sessions of group education focusing on understanding diabetes, living a healthy lifestyle, understanding the medication, and avoiding complications	Community Health Center	Health Promoters	Motivational Interviewing	4 months
Muchiri et al. [32]	Eight weekly (2–2·5 hours) group nutrition education and follow-up sessions	Community Health Center	Dietitians	The Social Cognitive Theory, the Health Belief Model and the Knowledge Attitude Behavior Model	12 months
Afemikhe & Chipps [33]	A five-week multidisciplinary education program utilizing group discussions, individual counselling, multimedia teaching, motivational interviewing, telephone calls by nurses and goal-setting charts for feedback	Hospital (one tertiary & one secondary)	Nurses, Dietitians and Medical Social Workers	Self-Determination Theory, Social Cognitive Theory and the Motivational Interviewing Framework	5 weeks
Essien et al. [34]	Twelve structured teaching sessions lasting around two hours each, attended fortnightly over a six-month period.	Tertiary Hospital	Doctors and Nurses		6 months
Park et al. [35]	A 6-month peer-led bimonthly group educational program on self-empowerment and problem-solving surrounding behavioral modification and self-management skills	Peri-Urban and Rural Diabetes Mellitus Clinics	Peer Educators		6 months
Asante et al. [36]	A 12-week mobile phone call intervention (2 calls per week for the first 4 weeks, followed by a weekly call for the following 8 weeks, totaling 16 calls)	Tertiary Hospital	Nurses		12 weeks
Price et al. [37]	A structured empowerment-based diabetes education delivered in groups and regularly reinforced	Primary Health Clinics	Nurses		48 months
Amendezo et al. [38]	Group education sessions focusing on: setting balanced diabetic diet, regular physical activity, cessation of smoking and alcohol abuse, adherence to medications, diabetic complications screening and treatment, self-management of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, and stress management	Tertiary Hospital	Physicians, Nurses, Nutritionists		12 months
Muchiri et al. [39]	Eight-weekly group education (2 to 2.5 hours each) with follow-up sessions (4 monthly meetings and 2 bi-monthly meetings each lasting 1.5 hours), and vegetable gardening (demonstration of sowing/transplantation of vegetables)	Community Health Center	Dietitians	Knowledge Attitude Behaviour (KAB) model and the Health Belief Model (HBM)	12 months
MakkiAwouda et al. [40]	A one–to—one educational intervention focusing on patho-physiological view, modalities of treatment, and identifications, prevention and treatment of acute complications	Health Center	Diabetes Health Educators		3 months
Baumann et al. [41]	A 4-month peer support intervention in which participants were trained in diabetes self-care	Diabetes Clinic	Physicians and Nurses		4 months
van der Does & Mash [42]	Four sessions of an hour each of group education; topics addressed: knowledge about diabetes, complications and treatment, healthy lifestyle and how to apply diabetes knowledge in day-to-day life	Primary Care Clinic	Dietitian, Health Promoter and Physician		4 weeks
Gathu et al. [43]	An individualized structured DSME intervention using an empowerment and interactive teaching model, with a focus on behavioral assessment, goal-setting and problem-solving	Primary Care Clinic	Certified Diabetes Educators		6 months