Computer-Assisted Self-Control of Diabetes by Adolescents

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the microcomputer-based system, Diabetes in Self-Control (DISC), used to facilitate adolescents' self-management of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Twenty 12- to 19-year-old subjects were matched into 10 pairs and randomly assigned to DISC or conventional education (CE). Following a no-treatment phase, information about diabetes and self-monitoring was presented during 7 weeks of phase 2 by means of computer-assisted instruction for the DISC group and printed materials for the CE group. During the 8 weeks of phase 3, DISC subjects received training on monitoring the relationships among variables, diabetes problem solving, and goal setting. Improvement that was both statistically and clinically significant was noted in the DISC group's prelunch and dinner glucose levels. The DISC group showed clinical improvement in frequency of blood glucose testing. Finally, DISC subjects reported more behavioral change as a function of what was learned.