A new study protocol titled “A Digital Health Intervention (SweetGoals) for Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: Protocol for a Factorial Randomized Trial” on the 5-year SweetGoals project for young adults with Type 1 Diabetes patients (T1D) has been published in Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR).

The authors Dr. Catherine Stanger, Dr. Tobias Kowatsch; Dr. Haiyi Xie, Dr. Inbal Nahum-Shani, Dr. Frances Lim-Liberty, MD, Dr. Molly Anderson, Prabhakaran Santhanam, Sarah Kaden, and Briana Rosenberg share their plans to use a 2×2 factorial randomized trial with 300 young adults with type 1 diabetes.

In their study, evidence-based behavioural intervention components will supplement a mobile health approach to improve glycemic outcomes among high-risk young adults with T1D who have above target HbA1c levels. The authors expect monetary incentives to improve self-management behaviours, will in turn will lead to better glycemic control.

To test this, all 300 participants will receive the SweetGoals app and will be split up into two groups. The participants in the incentive group will receive monetary incentives for meeting glucose monitoring and mealtime targets, while those assigned to the coaching group will receive web coaching in problem-solving skills focused on achieving better self-management and glycemic control. To support the participants, the SweetGoals app will use device data to share feedback about goals relating to glucose monitoring and mealtime behaviours.

The authors anticipate recruiting 300 young adults from February 2021, with the goal of completing data collection by February 2025. The study’s result should provide critical data on how digital intervention for T1D might be improved, as well as provide a better understanding of theoretically driven interventions aimed at improving self-management and glycemic outcomes.

For further details, please refer to the published article.

Reference:
Stanger, C., Kowatsch, T., Xie, H., Nahum-Shani, I., Lim Liberty, F., Anderson, M., Santhanam, P., Kaden, S., Rosenberg, B. (2021). A Digital Health Intervention (SweetGoals) for Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: Protocol for a Factorial Randomized Trial, JMIR Research Protocols. 10.2196/27109.

Video Abstract by Catherine Stanger