Exploring support needs of people living with diabetes during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a UK survey
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
Abstract
The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has radically compromised healthcare for people living with chronic conditions such as diabetes. Government-imposed restrictions to contain the spread of the virus have forced people to suddenly adjust their lifestyle. This study aimed to capture the impact of the pandemic on people living with diabetes and the views of these individuals on ways in which the information, advice and support they are receiving could be improved.
Research design and methods
An online anonymous survey was distributed across the UK during the first lockdown and initial easing. The survey comprised questions about confidence in diabetes self-management, resources used to obtain information, advice and support, and opinions on how these could be improved. Open-ended questions captured subjective experiences.
Results
The survey was completed by 773 adults with diabetes (69.2% type 1, 28.5% type 2). There was notable variability in the impact of the pandemic on confidence in self-management, with confidence having deteriorated most commonly in the ability to take care of own mental well-being (37.0% respondents) and improved most commonly in maintaining a healthy weight (21.1% respondents). 41.2% of respondents living alone reported not receiving any outside support. The quality of information, advice and support received from the healthcare team was rated poorly by 37.2%. Respondents sought greater communication and tailored advice from their care team, clear and consistent information from the government and news channels, and improved understanding of diabetes and its challenges from their personal networks and employers.
Conclusion
Adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic has strained the mental health and well-being of people living with diabetes. Diabetes care teams must receive assistance to support these individuals without risking further inequalities in access to healthcare. Equipping personal networks and employers with knowledge on diabetes and skills to support self-management may reduce the burden on the National Health Service.
Article activity feed
-
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.20.21249888: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Bristol faculty research ethics committee (ref: 103163). Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains Sentences Resources Means of dissemination included research portals (e.g. the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), University of Bristol website, e-mail contacts and monthly newsletters (e.g. NIHR Bristol BRC, Diabetes UK). NIHR Bristol BRCsuggested: NoneResults from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.20.21249888: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Bristol faculty research ethics committee (ref: 103163). Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains Sentences Resources Means of dissemination included research portals (e.g. the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), University of Bristol website, e-mail contacts and monthly newsletters (e.g. NIHR Bristol BRC, Diabetes UK). NIHR Bristol BRCsuggested: NoneResults from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
-