Susana R. Patton, Ph.D., ABPP, director of the CDCES center at the Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science in Florida, has a three-year NIH R01 grant of $ 900,000 entitled “Coin2Dose: Behavioral Economics to Advance Insulin -Bolus Activity and Improve HbA1c in Teens. “Dr. Patton is the recipient of three concurrent R01 grants.
Along with her Nemours co-investigator Larry A. Fox, MD, and co-investigators Mark A. Clements, MD Ph.D. by Children’s Mercy-Kansas City and Christopher C. Cushing, Ph.D. Dr. Patton of the University of Kansas will investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a semi-automated behavioral economic incentive intervention (BEI) called Coin2Dose to improve self-management behavior in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, and then conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial for testing the preliminary effectiveness of the intervention.
Coin2Dose delivers automated text messages to alert adolescents to bolus insulin at mealtime, as well as behavioral economic incentives in the form of cash or digital credits for daily bolus activity during meals. This study is of public health relevance because most adolescents with type 1 diabetes have difficulty achieving optimal diabetes self-management and their target glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, which increases their risk of serious acute and long-term complications. In addition, behavioral economic incentives can promote self-administration among young people.
We are very proud of the novel research that Dr. Patton and her talented team are conducting as this work will have a huge impact on the advancement of the pediatric diabetes treatment field by providing a scalable, adherence-centered intervention for both immediate hospitalization and treatment use in future focused interventions. “
Vicky Funanage, Ph.D., Executive Director of Research at Nemours
