Despite increased use of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGM) for pediatric type 1 diabetes (T1D) management and research studies showing benefits from the use of these devices, real-world glycemic control among youth with T1D has worsened in recent years. Although greater youth and parental diabetes knowledge is associated with better glycemic control, education alone is not sufficient to bring about the behavioral changes needed to improve outcomes in T1D. Psychoeducation recognizes the need to blend educational and behavioral approaches, including problem-solving and goal-setting, to support parents in developing optimal T1D management approaches. There are currently a lack of effective standardized tools to support patients and families in developing the knowledge and behavioral strategies needed to optimize the use of diabetes technologies. The development of innovative family-centered psychoeducational tools addressing both behavior and knowledge will help to realize the full potential of diabetes technologies to improve glycemic control and quality of life while ultimately preventing or delaying the development of both acute and long-term complications of T1D.~Interviews with parent-child dyads and diabetes clinicians will be used to identify the unmet parental psychoeducational needs regarding insulin pumps and CGM. These results will inform the use of instructional design to adapt an existing app-delivered diabetes technology curriculum to meet the specific needs of parents of children with T1D. Finally, the investigators will assess the feasibility and acceptability of this novel family-facing psychoeducational app-delivered intervention in a non-randomized pilot study.
This study aims to identify the unmet psychoeducational needs of parents of children 8-12 years of age using insulin pump and CGM for pediatric T1D management and to leverage that information to develop an innovative app-based psychoeducational intervention to optimize use of these technologies and improve T1D outcomes.