Feasibility Study of a New NHS Care Pathway for Emotional Support and Management of Diabetes Distress in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying adults with type 1 diabetes to better understand and improve support for those experiencing diabetes distress, which includes feelings like worry, frustration, and sadness related to managing diabetes. The study aims to test an NHS care pathway designed to help identify and manage this emotional burden. This pathway involves training diabetes care teams to recognize and discuss diabetes distress during routine visits. The research is a feasibility study conducted in the NHS setting to see how well this approach works for patients and care teams. The study includes two main groups one where health care professionals receive e-learning training to provide Enhanced Usual Care EUC focused on detecting and managing diabetes distress, and another where participants with elevated distress join a six-session online group program called REDUCE. The REDUCE program is designed to help participants manage both their emotions and diabetes more effectively. These interventions aim to see how feasible and acceptable this care pathway is within routine NHS diabetes services. Participants will be followed for about six months, during which data will be collected monthly on feasibility, service use, participant diversity, and data quality. Researchers will also measure blood glucose control using continuous glucose monitoring and assess diabetes distress levels with a specific scale every 30 days. Additional evaluations include a process review of the program theories over the study duration. This comprehensive data collection will help determine how well the care pathway works and its potential for wider use.

Optimising the Delivery of Diabetes Distress Informed Care for Its Prevention, Detection, and Management in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: a Feasibility Study (D-stress Study)