Research Projects
Ongoing Projects
FAMS-T1D (Family/Friend Activation to Motivate Self-Care)
In 2023 we were awarded a 5-year NIDDK funded project to test the efficacy of a randomized clinical trial. The intervention aims to improve type 1 diabetes management during young adulthood. Young adulthood is a high-risk time for type 1 diabetes management. Challenges may occur as young adults are managing diabetes in new situations such as work and college.
We adapted the FAMS intervention (see below) that was developed with Dr. Lindsay Mayberry to improve the management of type 2 diabetes. The intervention for type 1 diabetes includes.
- Text messaging to facilitate goal setting and social support
- Phone coaching to improve meeting goals and skills to manage social relationships, and
- Text messages to a support person to facilitate dialogue and support for diabetes.
We are currently recruiting individuals for the intervention here in Utah and through Children’s Hospital of L.A.
This project is in collaboration with Drs. Lindsay Mayberry, Deborah Wiebe, Jennifer Raymond, Jonathan Butner, and Michelle Litchman.
Tailoring Diabetes Support to Social Contexts for Adults Living with Type 2 Diabetes
I am part of a team that Dr. Mayberry is leading for a NIDDK funded project examining
how FAMS can be adapted to best work with persons with type 2 diabetes who have different
family contexts (e.g., collaborative, autonomous, or more controlling). The project
uses our prior work on family typologies (see Mayberry et al., 2023) to modify FAMS
to activate the components of the intervention that may be best suited for individuals
with different family types.
SHARE plus: RT-CGM with Data Sharing in Older Adults with T1D and their care partners
I am part of a team that Dr. Nancy Allen (College of Nursing) is leading for a NIDDK funded project examining how continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with a data-sharing app can be leveraged for better use among older adults and their care partners. The intervention provides instruction to current CGM users about how to set up a data sharing app, how best to communicate and problem solve on the app so that time-in-range is optimized for older individuals with type 1 diabetes.
Across these and other projects, we engage with scholars in the C-FAHR network, a rich network of over 100 faculty from all across the University of Utah
campus and 50 graduate students and postdocs.
Past Research Projects
READY (REgulating Adherence to Diabetes as Young adults)
In 2011, we received a 5-year NIH grant to study how adolescents with type 1 diabetes transition into emerging adulthood and the ways that parents may assist in that transition. Late adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 18+) pose challenges for adherence to the diabetes regimen (move out of home, move from the pediatric care system. READY was a longitudinal observational study involving 250 adolescents with type 1 diabetes at two sites (Utah and Texas). They were recruited in their senior year of high school and assessed annually for four years, with a daily diary assessment in year 1.
We have published extensively on these data (see CV).
DIADIC – DIabetes Across Development In Couples
In 2014 we received a 5-year grant from NIH to examine how adults cope with type 1 diabetes across the adult life span. As coping with diabetes occurs in a social context, romantic partners likely play an important role in diabetes management. However, little was known about how adults cope with type 1 diabetes management throughout adulthood and the role of romantic partners. The study employed a multi-method, multisite, design examined collaborative and supportive strategies, stress, diabetes management, and distress. Two-hundred and fifty couples across the life span where one person had type 1 diabetes across two sites (UT and PA) completed a baseline interview, a 14-day daily diary, and a conflict task.
We have published numerous findings from this study (see CV).