Background: Diabetes technology is now considered a standard of care for T1D; however, its adoption remains limited in minoritized populations. Community health workers (CHWs) engender trust by providing: unique assistance, social needs support, and extra healthcare system navigation. The T1D-CATCH intervention aims to enhance core CHW roles, adding specialty T1D support to increase diabetes technology use.

Methods: In this ongoing randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of T1D-CATCH, we report preliminary qualitative findings from post-intervention interviews with participants who have completed the intervention. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews, which were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by two independent coders utilizing a deductive coding approach.

Results: We included 11 participants who completed the intervention (mean age 25 yrs, 73% female, n=4 Hispanic, n=7 non-Hispanic Black). Common themes identified included high satisfaction and increased engagement with diabetes self-management, attributed to the increased flexibility in communication methods and scheduling offered by CHWs compared to healthcare providers. Participants saw CHWs as a valuable source of information and a tangible resource for unmet social needs. Participants also noted enhanced trust in the healthcare system due to shared decision-making, increasing their likelihood to adopt diabetes technology. Overall, participants noted that improvement in communication methods with the CHW and extra outreach for social needs management and diabetes technology navigation changed their self-perception of diabetes and improved self-management.

Conclusions: In this initial sample of study completers, the T1D-CATCH intervention appears to be feasible and acceptable, and may provide a new resource to improve diabetes technology uptake and self-management in minoritized young adults with T1D.

Disclosure

M. Finnan: None. A. Adamu: None. P.M. Mathias: None. S. Sanchez: None. A. Talla: None. J.A. Long: None. S. Agarwal: Research Support; Dexcom, Inc. Advisory Panel; Medtronic. Consultant; Beta Bionics, Inc.

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01DK132302)

© 2024 by the American Diabetes Association
2024
Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. More information is available at http://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license.