When you live with type 1 diabetes (T1D), it is easy to feel alone. Managing your own T1D or your child's T1D takes constant effort that is invisible to most people. Often, the only people who really understand what you are going through are other people in similar situations, but it's hard to find those people, especially when there are other aspects of your life that might be different from others with T1D. For example, you might have a very young child with T1D, you might be racialized and deal with racism in health care on top of T1D, you might be going through menopause with T1D, you might be aging out of provincial or parental device coverage, you might speak a different language from most people around you with T1D, or any one of many other things that make your situation unique. This project aims to create regular, small online meetings via Zoom or similar technologies to bring together people across Canada who are managing T1D (their own and/or their child's) who have other things in common. We will create these small groups that will meet monthly as well as larger monthly webinars covering topics of interest. We will track how people like the groups, how they feel, what they like and don't like, and adjust the program accordingly. This project is led by researchers and others who themselves live with T1D. We believe that this kind of peer support can be extremely helpful to people with T1D and it will provide needed mental health support.
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Single group
Peer support meetings
Other interventionOnline videoconference meetings held approximately monthly.
Diabetes Distress
We will use the Type 1 Diabetes Distress Scale \[PMID: 25765489\] and work with our steering committee to adapt the scale in order to address specific life situations relevant to our participants. For example, for CommuniT1D members who are employed, we will add two additional questions about work-related diabetes distress. \[PMID: 29604390\] For parents of teens with T1D, we will use the Parent Diabetes Distress Scale (PARENT-DSS) \[https://behavioraldiabetes.org/scales-and-measures/#1448434808823-e055c4f8-b047\] and will adapt this scale for parents of younger children with T1D. For partners of individuals with T1D, we will use the Partner Diabetes Distress Scale (PARTNER-DDS). \[https://behavioraldiabetes.org/scales-and-measures/#1448434936830-83758e0b-2ee4\] Lower diabetes distress scores are considered desirable compared to higher scores.
Caregiver Stress
For participants who identify as caregivers of a person living with T1D, we will use the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale. \[http://www. kingstonscales.org/caregiver-stress-scale.htm\]
Anxiety and Depression
We will measure symptoms of anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). \[PMID: 6880820\]
Self-Efficacy
We will evaluate diabetes-specific self-efficacy using the Confidence in Diabetes Scale, which measures participants' confidence in their ability to perform essential diabetes self-care activities. \[PMID: 12610027\]
Fear of Hypoglycemia
To examine fear of hypoglycemia, we will use the short form of the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey II, a validated tool that captures behavioral and emotional responses related to hypoglycemic episodes. \[PMID: 27278467\]
Unmet Needs for Care
To assess unmet needs for care, we will use selected items adapted from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). \[https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey\&SDDS=3226\] These items will allow us to identify perceived gaps in access to appropriate and timely diabetes-related care.
Personality Traits
We will use the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) to describe participants' personality traits. \[https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00046-1\] While not a direct outcome measure, this tool will allow us to explore how individual personality profiles may moderate the effects of the intervention, and may also capture shifts in constructs such as conscientiousness, which may be useful for diabetes management.
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