Diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity account for the highest burden of non-communicable diseases. There is increasing evidence showing therapeutic patient education (TPE) as a clinically and cost-effective solution to improve biomedical and psychosocial outcomes among people with DM and obesity. The present systematic review and meta-analysis presents a critical synthesis of development of TPE interventions for DM and obesity and the efficacy of these interventions across a range of biomedical, psychosocial and psychological outcomes. A total of 54 of these RCTs were identified among patients with obesity and diabetes and were thus, qualitatively synthesized. Out of these, 47 were included into quantitative synthesis. There was substantial heterogeneity in reporting of these outcomes (I²= 88.35%, Q= 317.64), with significant improvement (SMD=0.36, 95% CI: 0.23 to 0.49) noted in biomedical outcomes in the intervention group. The effect sizes were comparable across interventions delivered by different modes and delivery agents. These interventions can be delivered by allied health staff, doctors or electronically as self-help programs, with similar effectiveness (P < 0.001). These interventions should be implemented in healthcare and community settings to improve health of patients suffering from DM and obesity.

Therapeutic patient education (TPE) aims to empower the patients and their caregivers to effectively care for and manage their conditions. Such educational programs have been shown to improve health behaviors, disease outcomes and quality of life among different patient populations. The field of TPE has evolved extensively over decades, owing to interdisciplinary research. No study so far has been done to map this field, to identify the stakeholders and gaps requiring future research. By leveraging the theory of co-citation, Citespace was used to visualize the bibliographic data pertaining to TPE research. A total of 54,533 articles published in English language were analyzed to identify influential funders, regions and institutes contributing to this field. Besides these, important theoretical and empirical work that has shaped this field has also been mapped. Our analysis revealed several important insights. Most of the important theories which helped shape TPE were inspired from the social sciences. Five important themes of research were identified including disorders, study designs utilized in TPE research, scope of the TPE literature, and outcomes, and populations. The research focused on improving perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes for health promotion, reducing stigma as well as self-management and medication adherence. Most of the research was developed in the context of high income countries. The future research should more involve patients and use digital technology. Meta-analytical studies need to be done to identify the specificities of TPE interventions across different disorders. More research should involve low and middle income countries (LMIC) to ensure knowledge and technology transfer.