Sugarsquare. Focus on the Adolescent: Digital Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes Through the Internet

NCT01249742 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2007.13.003
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 65
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Background The treatment of diabetes is multidisciplinary. Alignment of care of the various professional disciplines is, however, not always optimal. This can lead to confusion about treatment interventions and behavioral advices. In adolescence, good fine-tuned care is of extreme importance because of the difficulties in regulation of the disease in this phase of life (Snoek, 2004). These difficulties are due to biological changes but also to socio-psychological developmental changes. The adolescents' psychological development demands more autonomy and responsibility for the diabetes (care) by the adolescent. The social development can conflict with the treatment regime, because of the adolescents' social needs (ADA, 2001; Houdijk, 1998; Snoek, 2004). In this study the investigators assess whether an interactive website, on which adolescents with diabetes and their treatment team can communicate, leads to better alignment of care and better control over the disease. Intervention The diabetes has great impact on the adolescents' everyday life. Finding a balance between more autonomy, participating in social life with (healthy) peers and control of the disease is difficult and seems to act as a thread during this phase in life. This can lead to questions and uncertainty at any given moment. The interactive website provides the adolescent access to information and to his or her individual treatment plan and advices fitted to his or her condition and life. The adolescent can pose questions at any given moment through the online forum and their personal treatment page. Since the treatment team answers the question within a day, fit between diabetes care and adolescents' everyday life is optimized. Research question Does an online interactive treatment environment, on which adolescents with diabetes can communicate with their treatment team, lead to better fit of care and to better disease control?

Conditions

Diabetes Mellitus

Keywords

diabetes mellitus; adolescent; online intervention; psychosocial; quality of life

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Patients' Evaluation of Quality of Care

  Participants' appreciation of our diabetes care was assessed using the Patients' Evaluation of Quality of Diabetes care (PEQ-D; Pouwer \& Snoek, 2002). This questionnaire consists of 14 items, such as: 'The amount of information I receive from the doctor is…'. The adolescent is asked to answer by means of a 5-point lykert scale varying from 1) bad to 5) excellent.

  T0: baseline (1 month prior to acces to intervention); T1: (6 months following T0); T2: (12 months following T0).

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Health Related Quality of Life

  T0: baseline (1 month prior to acces to intervention); T1: (6 months following T0); T2: (12 months following T0).

• Adolescents' disease knowledge

  T0: baseline (1 month prior to acces to intervention); T1: (6 months following T0); T2: (12 months following T0).

• Confidence In Diabetes Selfcare

  T0: baseline (1 month prior to acces to intervention); T1: (6 months following T0); T2: (12 months following T0).

• Glycemic control (HbA1c)

  T0: baseline (1 month prior to acces to intervention); T1: (6 months following T0); T2: (12 months following T0).

• Degree of use of intervention

  T1 (6 months following start of intervention)

Interventions

Internet intervention BEHAVIORAL

Our intervention, Sugarsquare, is a secured treatment environment only accessible by patients of the KDCN and members of the treatment team. Sugarsquare consists of two main sections. The first section is a semi-public setting on which adolescents can exchange experiences with their diabetes (care) through a forum and a real time chat-application. All patients and treatment team members can see all messages posted here. The second section consists of patients' individual pages with treatment overview and an application for private interaction with the treatment team. Patients can only access their own individual page; treatment team members can access pages of all patients. Sugarsquare is a secured webpage, accessible only through computers equipped with the right certificate (access device) and by using the appointed username-password combination.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 12 Years - 21 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• adolescents aged 12 and older;
• diagnosed with diabetes mellitus;
• receiving regular outpatient hospital-delivered diabetes care provided by the Children's Diabetes Center Nijmegen (CDCN)

You may not qualify if:

• adolescents who were unable to read questionnaires because of language, or cognitive problems were excluded

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Radboud University Medical Center: lead
• Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Children's Diabetes Center Nijmegen

Nijmegen, Gelderland, Postbus 9015; 6500 GS, Netherlands

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Boogerd EA, Noordam C, Kremer JA, Prins JB, Verhaak CM. Teaming up: feasibility of an online treatment environment for adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Pediatr Diabetes. 2014 Aug;15(5):394-402. doi: 10.1111/pedi.12103. Epub 2013 Dec 18.

  PMID: 24350732 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Diabetes Mellitus

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Endocrine System Diseases

Study Officials

• Emiel Boogerd, MSc.

  Radboud University Nijmegen, Medical Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Chris Verhaak, Dr.

  Radboud University Nijmegen, Medical Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Kees Noordam, Dr.

  Radboud University Nijmegen, Medical Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 22, 2010
• First Posted: November 30, 2010
• Study Start: February 1, 2009
• Primary Completion: April 1, 2010
• Study Completion: November 1, 2010
• Last Updated: November 30, 2010

Record last verified: 2010-11

Locations

NL (1)