Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is the most common metabolic disorder in childhood with an incidence of approximately 1.7 per 1000 children under the age of 20. Studies report that parents are overwhelmed during the early days, after initial diagnosis, due to the complex management needs of young children with T1DM. Adding to this stress is the reduction in the average length of hospital stay from 5 days to 2 days. The proposed study builds on data collected during a focus group and 2 pilot studies that support the use of a theoretically derived (self regulation theory) intervention using a human patient simulator (HPS) as a means to enhance parent teaching and diabetes management during the early days of a child's diagnosis. For example, findings from a recent pilot study support undertaking this full-scale clinical trial with subjects who received the education with HPS having improved knowledge, problem-solving, confidence scores, and lower anxiety, and fear of hypoglycemia scores. The primary aim of this multi-site randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention (HPS-PTE=Human Patient Simulation-Parent Teaching Enhancement) with 128 indexed mothers or fathers of children (5-12 years old) newly diagnosed with T1DM. We hypothesize that parents who are randomized to receive HPS-PTE will have significantly higher diabetes knowledge (cognitive visual schemata), technical skill competence, confidence, and lower worry and stress levels compared to those receiving standard diabetes education. In addition, we will describe parents'learning experiences with and without HPS-PTE enhancement, as well as the diabetes nurse educators'experiences using HPS-PTE. We will also explore the effect of the intervention on physiological factors such as hemoglobin A1C, and health care utilization;and whether parent knowledge and problem-solving competence, confidence, fear and anxiety mediate the effects of the intervention;and if parental education and two-parent vs. single parent caregivers moderate the impact of the intervention on child health and parent management outcomes. This study's contribution includes the testing of a theoretically based intervention to help parents manage young children newly diagnosed with T1DM. There is also potential that findings from this study could be used to develop interventions for children with other chronic conditions and to enhance diabetes education with grandparents, babysitters, and eventually school-aged children and adolescents.

Public Health Relevance

This study has tremendous public health relevance and impact potential for enhancing health care education for families and their children who have chronic medical conditions especially as the incidence of Type 1 diabetes has increased in the past several years. This type of advanced visual technology could be easily transferred to school and other community-based settings such as the camp education environment. It also has potential for improving parent and family management of the illness that could result in fewer missed school and work days. School-aged children and adolescents could also be instructed in self-management with this type of enhanced educational strategy.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01NR011317-01A1
Application #
7887487
Study Section
Nursing Science: Children and Families Study Section (NSCF)
Program Officer
Weglicki, Linda
Project Start
2010-04-30
Project End
2014-03-31
Budget Start
2010-04-30
Budget End
2011-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$527,457
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester
Department
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
603847393
City
Worcester
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
01655
Ramchandani, Neesha; Johnson, Kim; Cullen, Karen et al. (2017) CDE Perspectives of Providing New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes Education Using Formal Vignettes and Simulation. Diabetes Educ 43:97-104
Bova, Carol; Jaffarian, Carol; Crawford, Sybil et al. (2017) Intervention Fidelity: Monitoring Drift, Providing Feedback, and Assessing the Control Condition. Nurs Res 66:54-59
Ramchandani, Neesha; Maguire, Laura L; Stern, Kailyn et al. (2016) PETS-D (parents education through simulation-diabetes): Parents' qualitative results. Patient Educ Couns 99:1362-7
Moreau, Paula; Crawford, Sybil; Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan (2016) Methodological challenges collecting parent phone-call healthcare utilization data. Appl Nurs Res 29:64-9
Hughes, Patricia; Johnson, Kim; Ramchandani, Neesha et al. (2015) Preteen-parent experiences with PREP-T1 feasibility intervention. Diabetes Educ 41:452-8
Maguire, Laura L; Crawford, Sybil; Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan (2015) Grandparent Education Through Simulation-Diabetes. Diabetes Educ 41:678-89
Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Crawford, Sybil; Bova, Carol et al. (2015) PETS-D: Impact on Diabetes Management Outcomes. Diabetes Educ 41:537-49
Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Bova, Carol; Johnson, Kimberly et al. (2014) Engaging teens and parents in collaborative practice: perspectives on diabetes self-management. Diabetes Educ 40:178-90
Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Johnson, Kimberly; Cullen, Karen et al. (2014) Tried and true: self-regulation theory as a guiding framework for teaching parents diabetes education using human patient simulation. ANS Adv Nurs Sci 37:340-9
Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Bova, Carol; Lowes, Lesley et al. (2014) Revisiting a non-significant findings study: a parent mentor intervention trial as exemplar. Appl Nurs Res 27:213-8

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