Abstract: Standardizing Interactive Diabetes Education to Improve Transition Processes for Teens and Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes
Megan A. Elliott; Erin M. Tallon, PhD, RN; Emily L. DeWit, MASL; Erica Zarse, MD; Heather N. Feingold, LSCSW, LCSW; Jaimie Contreras RN, BSN, CPN, CDECS; Julie Kincheloe RN, BSN, CDECS; Stephanie C. Pratt, LMSW; Sonalee J. Ravi, MD
Children’s Mercy Kansas City (Kansas City, Missouri, USA)
Background: The American Diabetes Association recommends that clinics begin preparing teens with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) for transition at least one year prior to the anticipated transfer to adult care. Inadequate preparedness leads to suboptimal health care utilization and deteriorating glycemic control, resulting in increased risk of diabetes complications. We developed and evaluated an interactive, video-based educational program designed to aid teens’ transition to adult diabetes care.
Methods: Our institution utilizes a general transition readiness assessment to facilitate transition discussions. The assessment asks teens (age 17 and older) to assess their skills related to transition to adult care (e.g., financial considerations, finding providers, independent care management skills). and to select a transition goal at least once a year. To address teens’ goals in a diabetes-specific and standardized way, we created handouts and a series of videos that are accessible via our institution’s public webpage. Physicians provided teens with a link to this webpage in discharge paperwork. We also created a bookmark with a scannable QR code that directs teens to the videos.
Results: Our educational videos covered topics such as high-risk behaviors, driving with diabetes, managing prescriptions, a T1D refresher, preparing for college and independence with T1D, insurance and prescription assistance, and diabetes complications. After four months online, we generated a website traffic report to analyze viewer engagement. The videos have generated 91 views, with videos addressing high-risk behaviors (19 views), a T1D refresher (16 views), and diabetes complications (23 views) having the highest viewership. We therefore observe that patients are engaging with the provided educational materials to assist in the transition process.
Conclusion: Standardized educational videos and resources provide a viable means for preparing teens with T1D for transition to adult care. Future work will involve tracking resulting improvements in our teen population’s mastery of transition skills.
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