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STigma and Its Impact on Glucose Control aMong Youth With diAbetes, a Canada-Wide Study

NCT02796248 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 380

Last updated 2025-08-27

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Stigma related to chronic disease is rejection or judgement or exclusion by others that is related to the chronic disease itself and is unwarranted. We are trying to figure out what proportion of young people with type 1 diabetes experience stigma in Canada. By young people, we mean teenagers and young adults; specifically, people who are between 14 and 25 years of age. This is a challenging period in life when identities are developed and peer opinions are felt to be particularly important. Experiencing stigma in this life period may be especially hurtful and may have bad effects on taking care of type 1 diabetes. This may lead to important medical problems like dangerously low or high blood sugar values. By understanding how common stigma is, we can figure out the need for programs and strategies to deal with it.

We will ask young people with type 1 diabetes to help us study this problem by completing an online survey. We will 'advertise' our study through type 1 diabetes clinics, websites, and social media. People who are eligible and interested will click on an internet link and be directed to the survey. Staff at clinics in Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver will also draw their attention to the posters and/or provide small flyers with the internet link for the study.

Participants will be asked about their general sense of well-being, their habits and behaviours, and their blood sugar control, including frequency of both lows and highs. They will also be asked if they are willing to mail in a small blood sample. If yes, they will receive a kit with a small lancing device and instructions on how to clean their finger tip, prick it, and express a few drops of blood into a small container. They will then mail this back to us in a postage-paid envelope. We will use this to measure their hemoglobin A1c, an overall measure of blood sugar control.

We will use this information to (1) calculate the proportion of young people with type 1 diabetes who experience stigma; (2) figure out what factors and behaviours might predict or signal the experience of stigma; (3) see if there is a link between stigma and A1c control and/or frequent lows by report; (4) explore challenges and solutions voiced through the open-ended questions.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

cross-sectional survey

This is an observation study. Participants will complete a survey at one occasion. Participants are also invited to do a A1c mail-in capillary test.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Canadian Diabetes Association

    collaborator OTHER

  • McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Kaberi Dasgupta, MD · McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

Eligibility

Min Age
14 Years
Max Age
24 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2016-05-31
Primary Completion
2017-01-31
Completion
2017-01-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02796248 on ClinicalTrials.gov