NCT03144869

Physical Activity Monitoring Paediatric Type 1 Diabetes

Feasibility and Acceptability of Physical Activity Monitoring as an Educational Tool in the Management of Paediatric Type 1 Diabetes

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 13 (actual)
• Sponsor: Sheffield Hallam University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 7 Years – 11 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Physical activity (PA) can have positive health outcomes for children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM), yet being physically active can have unwanted side effects due to fluctuations in blood glucose (BG) level. Children and parents need support to help understand the relationship between PA and BG level, and how to use PA as a vehicle to better manage the condition. Using PA monitoring could help HCPs raise awareness about PA, discuss PA and facilitate diabetes management. This research will explore the feasibility and acceptability of PA monitoring as a clinical tool to help the management of paediatric T1DM.

Detailed description

Physical activity (PA) can have positive health outcomes for children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) such as improved diabetes control, lipid profile and body composition, yet activity levels are low. The unpredictable nature of children's everyday activity causes fluctuations in blood glucose (BG) level. Low and high BG level are side-effects of PA, have significant symptoms and can cause a range of chronic complications. Parents typically have responsibility for diabetes management in preadolescent children and perceive PA as a challenge due to constant concerns about BG levels (Quirk et al., 2015). Children and parents need support to help understand the relationship between PA and BG control and how to use PA as a vehicle through which to better manage the condition. T1DM healthcare professionals (HCPs) perceive a lack of i) competence, ii) confidence and iii) time to provide PA advice and education in the clinical setting. HCPs perceive a need for evidence-based resources to facilitate PA discussion, education and promotion (Quirk et al., 2015). Physical activity monitoring is already a widely recognised and accepted tool, with potential utility in paediatric diabetes. One such approach could be that HCPs graphically convey children's PA levels and use this to raise awareness and promote discussion about daily PA level. In those using constant glucose monitoring devices, daily BG values could be graphically documented to help explain the relationship between PA and BG level. These devices have shown acceptability among children with T1DM. However, whether they can facilitate PA discussion and education is unknown. This research will explore parents, children and HCPs' perceptions of PA monitoring in clinical practice. A PA monitoring programme will be developed, implemented in a small cohort of children with T1DM and evaluated for feasibility and acceptability. In the future, 'physical activity clinical champions' could be trained to use activity monitoring for PA education and promotion in clinic settings.

Conditions

• Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	physical activity monitor and feedback	Children will wear a Runscribe accelerometer for two weeks (children in Arm 2 will also wear a CGM). Runscribe will measure activity levels. Activity data will be downloaded by a researcher, analysed and graphs of daily activity levels prepared. At the child's next routine clinic appointment, child and parent will have 1:1 session with researcher acting as 'physical activity champion'. Session content will be informed by Phase 1, but will involve educational support around PA (including barriers and facilitators to participation) and individualised feedback on PA level). Individualised feedback will involve review of daily PA graphs - addressing times of high and low activity levels. For participants in Arm 2, there will also be review of daily line graphs showing BG trends. As part of standard clinical care, CGM data gets downloaded at routine clinic appointments and is visible on the patient's clinic notes in daily graph form.

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-09-01
• Primary completion: 2018-08-01
• Completion: 2018-08-01
• First posted: 2017-05-09
• Last updated: 2018-09-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom