The ecological approach to self-management in diabetes.

Whether our lives are directed by events around us or events within us, “not in our stars, but in ourselves,” is of concern not only in ethics, aesthetics, law, or religion (the Old Testament of laws and the New Testament of “faith as a mustard seed” within us) but also, of course, in behavioral science, biology, and health. The present paper emphasizes the importance of “events around us,” of ecological, social, organizational, community, and policy contexts in health and health behavior. It also describes social, community, and policy approaches to addressing contexts and considers all of these with reference to the challenges of diabetes prevention and management.