Research Description
Diabetes rates are higher in Deaf populations than hearing populations. We engaged an all-Deaf Community Advisory Board to co-design an intervention to help Deaf people manage their diabetes. The intervention is called Deaf Diabetes Can Together or DEDICATE. DEDICATE was created in a way that supports American Sign Language (ASL), Deaf culture, and Deaf people living across the Unites States. DEDICATE will include weekly telehealth sessions over 12-weeks that will use Deaf-friendly components, such as videos, storytelling, and visual demonstrations in ASL. A Deaf peer living with diabetes (called a community health worker) and an ASL-fluent nurse practitioner will teach the sessions. DEDICATE will be delivered to 60 Deaf people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. We will collect A1C levels, surveys, and interviews at three different time points. We believe that DEDICATE, a diabetes intervention co-designed by Deaf people for Deaf people, will improve A1C, self-efficacy and diabetes distress when compared to watching diabetes education videos in ASL only. In this study we will finalize DEDICATE materials and training and conduct a pilot trial using a framework to ensure the intervention can be implemented in the future. Our ultimate goal is to reduce health disparities in Deaf populations.Research Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?Our study will pilot test a telehealth intervention called DEDICATE (Deaf Diabetes Can Together), in Deaf adults living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. DEDICATE is a diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) intervention that was co-designed with a National Community Advisory Board of Deaf adults living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. DEDICATE addresses the linguistic, cultural, and geographic needs of the Deaf population to make DSMES more accessible to those who rely on American Sign Language (ASL).
If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?There are three important components to the project. First, DSMES is the cornerstone to diabetes management. However, not everyone has equal access to DSMES. DEDICATE is a DSMES intervention designed to be accessible for Deaf populations with ASL priority. Second, Community Health Workers have been used in different populations, but under developed in the Deaf Community. In this project we will train Deaf Community Health Workers who will help to deliver DEDICATE. Finally, often times written handouts are provided during DSMES programming. Given that the primary language of a Deaf person may not be English, written handouts may not be beneficial. In addition to live DSMES programming, DEDICATE will provide access to DSMES with information documented in video format to be referenced as needed.
Why important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play?Before I became a researcher, I was an endocrinology nurse practitioner, taking care of people living with diabetes every day. In this role I developed clinical programs and wanted to study their usefulness, so because a researcher. I am personally interested in health equity related to Deaf populations because I have six Deaf family members, including my mother. The American Diabetes Association grant provides a wonderful opportunity for me to blend my personal life with my clinical and research expertise alongside collaborators who specialize in Deaf culture, visual media and universal design, implementation science, research design and statistics. Without this funding, we would not be able to evaluate the delivery of the DEDICATE intervention by Deaf Community Health Workers. This grant allows us to address Deaf health equity related to diabetes education and care.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?The future of diabetes research should address systemic barriers, such as access to DSMES framed for someone’s primary language and culture, to achieve health equity across populations. Diabetes research should focus on the development and testing of interventions that are helpful, usable, and sustainable for diverse populations to support those living with diabetes. Ultimately, diabetes research should influence policies to improve the health of society and include those directly impacted every step of the way.