Type 2 education programme for young people to be developed
A structured education programme for young people is to be developed in a bid to tackle the increasing type 2 diabetes numbers.
The intuitive is to be developed by the Leicester Diabetes Centre, led by Professors Melanie Davies and Kamlesh Khunti, and sites are being urged to sign up to trial it.
The idea was formed in response to the first UK case reports of children between the ages of nine and 16 being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and subsequent data from the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit Data which supports these findings.
For the last two years staff at the Leicester Diabetes Centre have been running the PRE-STARt interactive lifestyle programmer 12-14 year olds who are deemed at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
It was developed with stakeholder input and was refined based on pilot feedback from young people themselves.
Increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour was supported through the use of wearable technology throughout and each session included a fun, active game that encouraged families to get active together.
Participants’ health and behaviours were recorded and will form the basis of the future programme that the researchers are now hoping to develop.
Once fully developed, it is hoped the programme will be fully adaptable to suit local preferences and cultural and linguistic needs. It will be age appropriate, delivered face to face and come with an online supporting online option.