The effects of numeracy in Type 1 Diabetes mellitus
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The BaCDiE Study - Barriers to Communication in Diabetes Education - Does numeracy affect type 1 diabetes self-management?
IRAS ID
237786
Contact name
SOPHIE HARRIS
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
GUY'S & ST THOMAS' FOUNDATION NHS TRUST
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 25 days
Research summary
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition usually arising in young children and adults. It is characterised by high glucose levels resulting from the autoimmune destruction of the insulin producing Beta cells in the Pancreas. As a result people affected by type 1 diabetes have to inject artificial insulin on a daily basis. Poor control of diabetes can result in many complications including blindness and amputations.
The amount of insulin required varies between individuals depending on several factors. Complex calculations take into consideration all these factors and gives an answer to how much insulin needs to be injected before each meal to maintain optimum blood glucose levels. These factors include: meal size, carbohydrate content, current blood sugar levels, sickness, exercise and stress. Self-management education courses exist to transfer the knowledge from healthcare professional to person with diabetes, in order to empower them to make these calculations for themselves on a daily basis. However, carrying out the calculations requires good numeracy skills, thought to be equivalent to GCSE A-C grade.
This study will investigate how numeracy affects Type 1 diabetes self management. We will use a cross-sectional survey design to assess diabetes specific numeracy and then access the diabetes specific medical records to assess glucose control.
As communication of knowledge from healthcare professional to person with diabetes is an integral part of the self-management course and education process we will assess healthcare professional perception of their patients numeracy. In addition we will carry out an ethnographic study to observe healthcare professionals who are part of the diabetes team in clinic. We will look to observe whether the healthcare professional changes their consultation style based on their perception of the patients numeracy score.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0046
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion