Throughout the course of the disease, people with diabetes mellitus have to make daily decisions which can have an influence on their health and their lifestyle. Positive health behavior can be encouraged if the information available is aligned to the affected people’s information needs and coping strategies. There does not appear to be a great deal of research into the information needs of people with diabetes mellitus in Germany.
Aims
- Record information needs of people with diabetes mellitus and analyze it in consideration of individual sub-groups
- Analyze links between information needs and associated factors, such as participation preferences and clinical variables
- Present and research changes in information needs during disease progression by analyzing longitudinally recorded data
Project Lead and Contact Person
Cooperations
Institut für Klinische Diabetologie (DDZ)
Funding
- Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (BMG)
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
- Innovationsfond (GBA)
Methods
The German Diabetes Study is a prospective cohort study of people with recently diagnosed diabetes. The study is carried out under the leadership of the German Diabetes Centre in Düsseldorf. A specially developed mixed methods design questionnaire was used to record diabetes-specific information needs. Clinical experts’ review Surveys of experts, focus groups on information needs of people with diabetes, and a pilot project of the final version under real conditions (Chernyak et al. 2016) formed the basis for the development of the questionnaire.
First evaluations of the questionnaire were carried out with baseline data of 138 participants in the German Diabetes Study. The data was described using a qualitative content analysis and descriptive analyses. Furthermore, associations between information needs categorized according to varying content (e.g. management-related topics) and factors such as the current level of information and health-related quality of life were analyzed.
Duration
2012-2020
Selected Publications
Grobosch S, Kuske S, Linnenkamp U, Ernstmann N, Stephan A, Genz J, Begun A, Haastert B, Szendroedi J, Müssig K, Burkard V, Roden M, Icks A for the GDS Group. What information needs do people with recently diagnosed diabetes mellitus have and what are the associated factors? A cross-sectional study in Germany. BMJ Open 2018. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017895