The psychosocial impact of hypoglycemia in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Project title

The psychosocial impact of hypoglycemia in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Project manager

Manon Coolen, mcoolen@health.sdu.dk

Project description

Background:
Type 1 Diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions in children and adolescents and requires intensive insulin treatment with multiple daily insulin injections or insulin pump therapy and regular self-monitoring of blood glucose levels to survive. However, treatment with insulin is associated with an increased risk of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose), which can cause immediate uncomfortable symptoms as well as confusion, seizures, coma and even death. Besides the physiological morbidity, hypoglycemia can also have major psychological burden, including increased fear of hypoglcyemia, reduced quality of life and disturbance of social relationships and daily activities. However, the exact psychological impact remains largely unknown and more research is needed to better understand the most important ways in which hypoglycemia affects the lives of young people with type 1 diabetes.

Objectives:
The aim of this PhD project is to determine the psychological impact of hypoglycemia in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Methods:
This project is undertaken as part of the Hypo-RESOLVE project funded by IMI2 (EU), which investigates hypoglycemia and its impact in diabetes. The project will employ different research methods. First, a systematic literature review will be conducted, followed by an analysis of combined datasets from industry partners in Hypo-Resolve, and a multi country study, which includes both quantitative and qualitative measures.

Perspectives:
This project gives insight into the burden of hypoglycemia and aims to identify unmet care needs and possible ways to reduce the psychological burden of hypoglycemia in clinical care for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Start date and expected end date

01.02.2019 - 01.02.2022

Main supervisor

Professor Frans Pouwer, Department of Psychology, SDU

Co-supervisors

Professor Jane Speight, Australian Center for Behavioral Research in Diabetes and School of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia and Department of Psychology, SDU;
Dr. Melanie Broadley, Department of Psychology, SDU

The project is carried out under

INSIDE Research Group, within the framework of The Hypo-RESOLVE Project, which investigates hypoglycemia and its impact in diabetes;
CH:LD Research Group.

Collaborators

This project is part of the Hypo-RESOLVE consortium, which includes 23 partners from 9 European countries and the US.

Funding

The project is funded by IMI2 (European Union) and is conducted under the umbrella of the HypoResolve Study.

Keywords

hypoglycemia, pediatrics, type 1 diabetes, quality of life, fear of hypoglycemia, psychological wellbeing