Project Summary
A Tier I Pipeline Contract is being requested for the formation of a group of diabetes patients and their families, school nurses, school personnel, diabetes nurses, and diabetes care advocates because of continued concern that children with diabetes are receiving suboptimal diabetes care in the school setting. As community-based diabetes ambassadors, we routinely hear the need for increased involvement from key community members to improve diabetes management within schools. Currently, there is no infrastructure in place to allow for this important collaboration to take place. We are proposing to form a community group that will work to develop effective ways to support schools and improve communication between stakeholders around diabetes care through focus groups, community meetings, and establishment of a leadership council.
The group will use funding primarily to reserve our time and efforts to serve as facilitators and to pay for meeting costs including travel expenses, in-person community gatherings, diabetes-specific trainings, and focus group incentives. During the 9-month contract period, activities will be conducted each month. In Month 1, we will connect with key personnel and stakeholders; in months 2-4, we will conduct focus groups to gather information on barriers to managing pediatric diabetes identified by key stakeholders in the community; in months 5-9, we will coordinate bimonthly meetings of the leadership council; and in months 8-9, we will offer Parent Designated Adult (PDA) trainings to the community. The group will draft a plan on how to make use of the leadership council and successfully increase diabetes knowledge and adherence to diabetes care guidelines within schools, given the specific barriers identified during the focus groups.