Objective
This project aims to develop and test an innovative, self-guided digital tool to help people better manage the emotional stress that often comes alongside living with type 1 diabetes. The tool will be easy to use on a phone or tablet and designed to offer meaningful support after using it just one time. Its brief format makes it especially useful in busy medical settings like primary care and endocrinology, and more likely to be used by people who do not need, want, or have time for more intensive forms of emotional support.
Background Rationale
Managing type 1 diabetes every day can be emotionally exhausting, leading to what's known as diabetes distress. This includes feelings of burnout, frustration, and fear of complications. Nearly half of adults with type 1 diabetes experience this, and it can make it hard to stick closely to a treatment plan. Even though it’s so common and can affect how someone manages their diabetes, it is often not addressed as a part of routine medical care. This project seeks to fill that gap in care by developing and testing a practical tool that can provide support to many people with type 1 diabetes experiencing elevated distress and fit within the routine medical care context where appointment times tend to be brief.
Description of Project
Living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is demanding. People with T1D must constantly monitor their blood sugar, manage insulin, and make daily decisions that affect their health. This constant effort can take an emotional toll, often leading to what’s called diabetes distress (DD). DD includes feelings like burnout, frustration, and fear about medical complications. DD is not a mental illness, but an understandable reaction to the demands of managing diabetes every day.
Unfortunately, DD is also very common, affecting nearly half of adults with T1D, and it can make it harder for people to stick to their treatment plans, leading to worse health outcomes. Even though it’s so widespread, DD is rarely addressed in routine medical visits (in primary care or endocrinology). Doctors and diabetes care teams often don’t have the time, specialized training, or resources to help patients manage this emotional burden.
This project aims to change that by creating a simple, effective, and easy-to-use digital tool that helps people with T1D manage their diabetes distress. The tool will be a Digital Single Session Intervention (D-SSI) which is a brief, self-guided program that can be completed in one sitting on a smartphone or tablet. It’s designed to be used either during a medical visit or at home, making it flexible and accessible. While not intended as a replacement for more intensive therapy, this D-SSI can be an important tool in the toolbox, a first-line treatment, for those who might not need or want long-term therapy, or for those waiting to access more intensive support.
The intervention will be based on an evidence-based psychological approach called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT helps people handle difficult emotions, focus on what matters most to them, and take positive steps in their lives even when things feel overwhelming. ACT has already been shown to help reduce diabetes distress and increase health behaviors, even after brief interventions.
The project has two main goals:
First, the researchers will design a prototype of the digital intervention using ACT principles. They’ll work closely with people who have T1D, healthcare providers, and hospital administrators to make sure the tool is helpful, relatable, easy to use, and fits into real-world medical settings.
Second, the researchers will test the tool with a small group of adults who have T1D and high levels of diabetes distress. They’ll look at how well the tool works, how satisfied people are with it, and whether it helps reduce distress and improve quality of life.
If successful, this project could lead to a major shift in how emotional health is supported in diabetes care. Instead of having to be referred to intensive therapy or not receive support at all, anyone could get meaningful help right in their doctor’s office or even from the comfort of their own home. This kind of tool could also be shared widely through clinics, diabetes organizations, and online platforms, reaching many more people than traditional treatments.
Ultimately, this research could lay the foundation for innovating single session digital tools that support the emotional well-being of people with diabetes, helping them live healthier lives on their terms.
Anticipated Outcome
The project will result in developing a brief, self-guided digital tool that helps navigate the emotional distress that comes with type 1 diabetes, ultimately to improve quality of life and self-management behaviors. If successful, it could be given out and used widely in medical clinics or at home, offering support to many who might not otherwise receive it. After developing the tool with lots of feedback from key stakeholders (adults with type 1 diabetes, medical providers, hospital administrators), we are going to test it with a small sample of adults with type 1 diabetes and elevated distress. We anticipate the tool will be very user-friendly, and that it will be thought of as helpful. We also think the people who try it out will have some benefits: reductions in diabetes distress and HbA1c, increases in self-management and quality of life. However, because this tool is so new, we do not know how much benefit to expect after such a brief training and hope to find out just that.
Relevance to T1D
This tool is specifically designed with and for adults living with type 1 diabetes. It addresses the emotional side of living with diabetes, which is a very important but often overlooked part of living with and managing it. Ultimately, the tool is designed to be helpful to adults with type 1 diabetes to improve health and quality of life.