Mobile Communication Technology for Adolescents With Diabetes

Summary

Among those with type I diabetes, adolescents can be among the worst at achieving glycemic control. Behaviors normal in adolescent development (e.g., developing independence, rejecting parental norms in favor of peers) can be at odds with the demands of effective diabetes self-management. Modifying the family and patient interaction should be a crucial component to improving the ability of an adolescent to manage his or her diabetes.

Mobile technology is becoming more popular in medicine, and adolescents, as a group are more inclined to accept technology as an adjunct to care. Mobile technology that links adolescents to health providers could help them to work through complex information that must be processed to make good decisions. Since this "assistance" comes from health professionals, it should help relax parents somewhat, thus reducing problems associated with parental hypervigilance and manipulation of the regimen to avoid problems of hypoglycemia. Parental-child conflicts may therefore be reduced by using cell phone glucose monitoring technology that directly reports self-blood glucose monitoring data to providers and creates a communication link to discuss therapeutic options.

This study investigates whether the use of mobile technology, in the form of a cell phone glucose monitoring system, will help reduce the need for parents to assert behavioral control, which can negatively impact adolescent diabetes self-management. The study will also determine whether adolescents report improved quality of life, demonstrate competence in diabetes management, and are able to achieve better control of their diabetes.

Conditions

• Type 1 Diabetes

Interventions

DEVICE

GlucoPak

We will be giving participants Glucopak devices and monitoring them closely over the 6 month period.

DEVICE

Cell Phone

We will provide cell phones and access to the clinic to facilitate communications

OTHER

Usual Care

This intervention was usual care, without either device.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Indiana University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• David G Marrero, PhD · Indiana University School of Medicine

• Aaron E Carroll, MD, MS · Indiana University School of Medicine

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

14 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-01-31

Primary Completion

2008-12-31

Completion

2008-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations