NU610 Unit 7 DQ 1: type 2 diabetes treatment plan
Citing an article for each plan element is the visible requirement. Judging how strong each one is, in your own words, is the one that separates the answers.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 15, 2026
SOAP format, EBP citations, and a strength judgement
The patient is a sixteen-year-old with a new type 2 diagnosis, a BMI of 37, and she is her school team's goalkeeper. Every one of those facts should change the plan. Youth-onset type 2 diabetes is not adult type 2 in a smaller person: beta-cell function declines faster, complications appear earlier, and the treatment options licensed for adolescents are narrower than for adults — which means an adult guideline applied unchanged is a clinical error, not just a formatting one. The soccer detail is not colour: it bears on hypoglycaemia risk with certain agents, on carbohydrate timing, and on the one motivational lever the plan actually has with a sixteen-year-old. Note also that the prompt asks for a plan rather than a discussion of management, which is a different genre. A plan names the drug, the dose, the target, the review date and who does what. A discussion of the evidence is not a plan, however well informed.
Follow the SOAP structure the brief names, and give the plan the sections it expects — diagnostics, therapeutics, education, referral, follow-up. Each evidence-based element needs its citation attached at the element rather than gathered at the end, which is a formatting point with a real purpose: it makes visible which parts of your plan are evidenced and which are custom. Then the third requirement, which most responses under-deliver: for each article cited, give your own view of the strength of the evidence. That means saying what kind of study it is, whether its population resembles a sixteen-year-old, and how confident it lets you be — an adult randomised trial and a paediatric consensus statement support very different degrees of confidence. Where the evidence for adolescents is genuinely thin, say so, because that is the honest state of this field and noticing it is exactly the appraisal skill being assessed.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Distinguish youth-onset type 2 diabetes from the adult condition.
- 02Let patient-specific facts change a treatment plan.
- 03Attach evidence to individual plan elements.
- 04Appraise the strength of each cited source.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A plan in SOAP format with the expected sections.
- 02Age-appropriate therapeutic options.
- 03The soccer and BMI details reflected in specific decisions.
- 04A citation attached to each evidence-based element.
- 05An appraisal of each article's strength.
Plan in format, cite each element, then appraise
The presentation in SOAP form
Organise the case data as subjective, objective and assessment.
Diagnostics
Specify the investigations this new diagnosis requires.
Therapeutics
Choose agents licensed and evidenced for adolescents.
Education and the athlete
Address hypoglycaemia, carbohydrate timing and sport participation.
Evidence appraisal
State the strength of each cited source and in whom it was studied.
Guidelines for a paediatric, not adult, presentation
Recommended databases
- ADA Standards of Care
- PubMed Central
- CINAHL
- Your paediatric formulary
Search sequence
- 1.Find the paediatric section of the current diabetes standards.
- 2.Check which agents are licensed for under-eighteens.
- 3.Search youth-onset type 2 diabetes for how it differs from the adult disease.
- 4.Look for guidance on diabetes management in adolescent athletes.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Youth-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus: an urgent challenge
Nature Reviews Nephrology · 2023
On youth-onset type 2 diabetes and why it behaves differently from the adult disease, which is what rules out an adult plan.
- 02
Type 2 Diabetes
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
A full account of type 2 diabetes management against which the paediatric departures can be identified.
- 03
The effect of peer support in diabetes self-management education on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Epidemiology and Health · 2021
On peer support in diabetes self-management education, which is relevant to a sixteen-year-old's adherence in a team setting.
- 04
Epidemiology Of Study Design
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
The design catalogue that lets each cited article's strength be characterised rather than asserted.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Applying an adult type 2 guideline unchanged.
- Treating the soccer detail as background colour.
- Gathering citations at the end rather than at each element.
- Citing articles without appraising them.
Submission checklist
- Are your therapeutic choices licensed for adolescents?
- Do the BMI and sport change specific decisions?
- Is a citation attached to each evidenced element?
- Does each appraisal say what kind of study it was and in whom?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
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Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

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PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
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