comply with the wishes of their carers but, when at home, away from that influence, they may choose to behave very differently and engage in what they regard as reasonable risk taking. One interpretation of this situation is that the individual presents one 'face' to the professionals and another to family and friends. A move towards a more open and collaborative style of communication between client and professional could enable practitioners to gain a more accurate insight into the difficulties of living with diabetes [35] . A second issue for professional practice is that of education. Professionals may label individuals as 'noncompliant' without appreciating the difficulties of coping, on a daily basis, with the sort of problems outlined in the report by Richmond [35] . An accurate understanding of the experiences of each individual would help to inform both teaching strategies and the nature of education provided by professionals. Foster [37] argues that individuals may be afraid of developing the complications and so attend the clinic less often. Alternatively they may feel intense anger, even to the point of denying that they have diabetes altogether. Others may be overcome by the experience of mixing with other individuals with diabetes who have more advanced stages of the disease. In such circumstances educating individuals requires far more skill than simply transmitting information if people with diabetic foot ulceration are to be helped to cope effectively with their condition. In the study reported here, education about foot care was clearly an important issue.