School of Health & Wellbeing

People with learning disabilities are more likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes. They tend to develop it at a younger age and are less likely to have access to suitable support that would help them to manage the condition. This may make it more likely that they will have other health problems, such as heart or kidney disease and strokes, and die younger.

Our aims:

We want to find the best way to help people with a learning disability who have Type 2 Diabetes. We will test whether providing some structured education around managing their diabetes and maintaining healthier lifestyles (diet, exercise) helps people with intellectual disabilities to manage their blood sugar and to stay healthier in the future.

 

 

Participation opportunities:

Looking for research participants of adults with Type 2 Diabetes and learning disabilities and their family/carers/partners/support workers/advocates.

People taking part will benefit from information and education about managing diabetes and healthy lifestyle choices. 

We have developed an education programme called DESMOND-ID, which is about diabetes and is suitable for adults with learning disabilities and their carers/partners/advocates. The programme lasts 7 weeks, two and a half hours per week, followed by two booster sessions at 1 month and 3 months. The adult with a learning disability and their carer/partner/advocate are encouraged to attend together. The programme supports people to better manage their diabetes.

Closing date for responses: 31st May 2024

Contact to enquiry about participation: maria.truesdale@glasgow.ac.uk

Find out more information on our website

 

 

More information:

We have already done a small study which showed that the programme can be delivered and is acceptable to service users and carers. We now need to do a larger research study to find out if our programme brings about health benefits for adults with intellectual disabilities who have Type 2 Diabetes. For example, we want to see the effects on people’s diets, physical activity, and diabetes control (blood sugar).

To test the programme, we will conduct a randomised trial. We will recruit 450 adults with intellectual disabilities who have Type 2 Diabetes, from Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England (Leicestershire). With their permission, half will be randomly chosen to receive the diabetes education (DESMOND-ID) while the others continue with their usual care. We will measure everyone’s blood sugar (HbA1c) when they are recruited and twice more later in the study. We will then compare the results for the people allocated to the programme and those in the control group. We also compare other things between the groups, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, and health and well-being measures; and carry out an economic evaluation to see if DESMOND-ID is good value for money.

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First published: 1 May 2024