• Item type: Scientific article
• Country: Canada
• Language: English
• Author: Anne B. Belton
• Target audience: All health professionals
• Publication Date: Apr, 2008
• http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/2/139.full

Conversation Maps are tools used to generate discussion and encourage self-reflection and sharing of the experience of living with diabetes. They are not a game, but they do provide a visual platform to engage participants and allow them to discover facts about diabetes for themselves. Conversation Maps are usually used with small groups led by a facilitator who may be a diabetes educator. The Maps have been designed on sound educational principles. They are designed to represent surroundings that are familiar to the participants, for instance, a busy street or a park, making the discussion meaningful for the participants, an important condition for learning. The questions used to start a discussion ask participants to relate their understanding of or experiences with different aspects of diabetes management, thus acknowledging their past experiences and defining the base on which the ensuing discussion will build new knowledge. Perhaps more than any other learning principle, discussion leads to the presentation of useful, practical information, as most of it comes from other participants, not the educator.