Managing diabetes can be complicated. People are often expected to take medications properly, eat certain foods, exercise regularly, monitor their blood sugar, and attend many health care appointments. But for many, these expectations can be hard to meet. Personal and social factors, like access to care and support, can make it even harder and can lead to worse health outcomes. To our understanding, little research explores access to diabetes care and support in Atlantic Canada from the combined experiences of adults living with diabetes, health care providers, and policymakers in the context of relevant health-related policies. Further, little is known about how sex and gender impact these experiences in this region. We propose exploring these combined experiences in Atlantic Canada.
We will be conducting interviews in both urban and rural areas of Atlantic Canada to learn more. Patients, researchers, health care providers, and policy makers have collaborated in this design and will help implement, analyze, and disseminate this research. We aim to include at least one patient partner from each Atlantic Canadian province. This expertise will help the team to guide recruitment (e.g., when, where, how), data collection (meaningful, appropriate interview questions), analysis (meaningful data), and knowledge translation (meaningfully applied translation of findings).
Eligibility
We are looking to engage patients from diverse backgrounds. This allows for a deeper understanding of the broad range of needs and challenges facing Canadians. We aim to select a committee that brings a mix of experiences and perspectives to the table and reflects the diversity of our population.
- Adults (at least 18 years) who live with diabetes or a caregiver for someone who lived with diabetes.
- Interested in exploring access to diabetes care and support.
Time Commitment
We plan for the virtual engagement to start on May 1, 2025, and end on March 1, 2026, with the possibility of an extension should the project take longer than anticipated.
We expect to have monthly meetings starting in May 2025. These meetings will be held virtually and will last a maximum of two hours. Additionally, we anticipate sharing the project results in various ways, and patient partners will have opportunities to participate in presentations and other dissemination activities.
Compensation
Patient partners will be compensated.