Diabetes Learning in Virtual Environments Just In Time for Community reEntry (Diabetes LIVE JustICE)
Louise Reagan
Summary
The proposed study will use a randomized clinical trial design with non-equivalent control group and longitudinal design to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of the Diabetes LIVE JustICE application. The design will incorporate repeated measures at 0, 6, and 12 weeks. Outcome variables will include recruitment assessments, participation, engagement, user experience, and measures proximally related to behavior change - e.g., diabetes knowledge, diabetes-related distress, diabetes self-care, and social support and clinical outcomes -e.g., glycemic control. Focus group interviewing will be conducted to evaluate acceptability among intervention group participants.
Description
Among incarcerated persons, the rate of diabetes is almost 50% higher (9%) than the general population (6.5%) when matched for sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin. The burden of diabetes is carried forward post-incarceration, with 95% of incarcerated persons reentering the community with minimal health-related skills stemming from high-security environments with constrained self-care. These individuals lack critical knowledge and skills for diabetes self-management (DSM) regarding what foods to eat, how to control the formerly incarcerated person's blood sugar, and how and when to take insulin…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: Individuals will be eligible to participate if they: 1. have Type 1 or 2 diabetes 2. are age 18 and older 3. can speak and understand English 4. have been released directly from one of five Connecticut prisons to supervised community housing or parole
Interventions
- OtherDiabetes LIVE JustICE
Diabetes LIVE JustICE will be an adaptation of the current Diabetes LIVE persistent multi-user online virtual environment built on the Unreal Engine (Epic Games, Inc., Cary, NC) that allows users to talk to each other in real-time and participate in instructor-led synchronous sessions. Users can access the virtual environment through IOS/Android devices. Instructors can show learning material such as Google Docs and PowerPoint. The LIVE JustICE community will contain a community center, a tranquility center, and a message board. This will be an interactive community where participants will communicate in real-time on their mobile device or, if preferred, using their computer via text or audio chat. Access to LIVE will allow participants to utilize resources and links in the application, leave a message on the message board for the diabetes educators, or engage with other participants. Research team members will add and trial gaming activities to the VE during this feasibility study.
- OtherEnhanced Education
See control group description above
Locations (2)
- University of ConnecticutStorrs, Connecticut
- University of ConnecticutStorrs Mansfield, Connecticut