Abstract
Background:
At the end of the 1980s, the Department of Pediatrics at Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden developed a computerized diabetes simulator. The main purpose was to allow teenagers with Type 1 diabetes to experiment with food, exercise, and insulin without the risk of inconvenience. The aim of this paper is to discuss experiences from the previous work with teenagers on the Särimner diabetes simulator.
Methods and Results:
In 1991, shortly before Sweden became computerized, the impact of the simulator was evaluated in a study with 11 teenagers. Improvements were seen in a few individuals regarding locus of control, self-esteem, diabetes knowledge, and diabetes-related stress, but could not be shown on a group level. The simulator was used for longer periods at some clinics, also by individual health professionals and in a diabetes camp, but support for further development has been lacking. It was also used in modeling projects of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Conclusions:
Proactive pedagogic measures may find it hard to compete with corrective technological measures since their effectiveness is more difficult to prove by scientific methods. Nevertheless, they are needed together with other methods to improve understanding and motivation in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes.
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