Youth perceptions and experiences of type 2 diabetes: Protocol for a collaborative knowledge translation approach and qualitative study.

AIMS: The aim of this study is to generate an in-depth understanding of youth perceptions and experiences of living with type 2 diabetes to inform knowledge translation, research and intervention development. DESIGN: Interpretive descriptive qualitative study. METHODS: Twenty to 25 youth aged 10-18 years with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes will be purposively recruited through the Diabetes Education Resource for Children and Adolescents in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and through the Improving Renal Complications in Adolescents With Type 2 Diabetes Through the REsearch [iCARE] cohort. Socio-demographic information will be collected. Semi-structured interviews will occur iteratively with inductive thematic analysis. Data will be professionally transcribed and managed using NVivo 1.0 software. The University Ethics Committee approved this study (May 2020). DISCUSSION: There is a critical gap in understanding youth experiences of type 2 diabetes. Research involving youth with type 2 diabetes is predominantly quantitative in nature, largely reflecting risk factors, underlying mechanisms and treatment outcomes associated with diabetes management. In-depth qualitative research on youth experiences can help identify youth priorities, provide insight into critical misalignments between stakeholder perspectives, and drive forward a more consolidated youth-centred research agenda. IMPACT: Understanding and applying knowledge of youth experiences is critical as the prevalence of, and challenges associated with, youth onset type 2 diabetes continues to increase worldwide. This research will generate a robust interpretive description of youth lived experiences and perceptions of type 2 diabetes where such research is lacking, to inform basic and applied research within an interdisciplinary investigative and clinical research team with relevance to other jurisdictions. In response to calls for youth-oriented research in type 2 diabetes, this work will catalyse collaborative knowledge translation using creative and youth-directed initiatives.

Transition of Youth With Type 2 Diabetes: Predictors of Health-Care Utilization After Transition to Adult Care From Population-Based Administrative Data.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we aimed to compare health-care visits pre- and posttransition from pediatric to adult care between youth with type 2 and type 1 diabetes. METHODS: We linked a clinical database with the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository to compare health-care visits 2 years before and after transition, and investigated baseline factors influencing health-care engagement. RESULTS: Youth with type 2 diabetes (n=196) vs type 1 diabetes (n=456) were more likely to be female (61% vs 44%), older at diagnosis (13.6 vs 10.6 years), live in northern regions and to be in the lowest socioeconomic status quartile (53% vs 5.4%). Seventy-six percent of youth with type 2 diabetes attended a follow-up visit within 2 years of transition compared to 97% of youth with type 1 diabetes. Youth with type 2 diabetes had higher rates of hospitalization pretransition (19.6 vs 11.6 admissions/100 patient years) and posttransition (24.7 vs 11.7 admissions/100 patient years) and fewer medical visits (pretransition: 2.4 vs 3.0 visits/person year [p<0.01]; posttransition: 1.6 vs 2.1 visits/person year [p<0.01]). Accounting for sex, geography, age, education, socioeconomic status and diabetes type, achieving 4 visits in 2 years posttransition was predicted by the number of visits pretransition (odds ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.23 to 1.49) and diabetes type (type 2 diabetes: odds ratio, 0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.34 to 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: Youth with type 2 diabetes attend fewer medical follow-up visits pre- and posttransition to adult care compared to youth with type 1 diabetes. Focused, informed, specific transition planning is needed that addresses the unique characteristics of this population.