Overall quality of life including longevity is poor among T1DM except for a very few being treated at specialty centers. A trained team for customized education can help improve outcomes. KT1DP Sweet Stars has been conducting a series of workshops partnering with patient organizations. A situational assessment was made during the first session in a community. Patients/parents were administered with ViDa1 questionnaire. n=58, 50% males, age=13.0±4.3y, duration=4.1±3.0y, HbA1c=10.3±2.3%. ViDa1 measures 4 HRQoL dimensions-interference of diabetes with life, self-care, wellbeing and concern about the disease. Interference scores varied significantly w.r.t. healthcare sector consulted (public vs. private; 33.9±8.8 vs. 29.3±7.3; p=0.024) and disease duration (<5 vs. ≥5y; 34.9±9.0 vs. 30.6±8.7; p= 0.047); higher scores indicating greater interference. No other scores varied significantly w.r.t. disease duration, age, gender, HbA1c and healthcare sector. Many were concerned about future complications, 62.07%; unsatisfied with glucose control, 50%; concerned about and afraid of hypoglycemia, 65.51% and 49.15%; and felt diabetes makes life stressful, 55.17%. 93.75% appreciated the educational initiative in improving their perspectives and T1DM management skills. Customized and continuing training programs targeting key areas of failure are expected to improve outcomes and quality of life in T1DM.
J. Kesavadev: None. B.D. Saboo: None. A. Shankar: None. A. David: None. R. Warrier: None. N.A. Ajai: None. G. Sanal: None. K. Thampiraj: None. L. Ramachandran: None. G. Krishnan: None. S. Jothydev: None.
