ESPE Abstracts

One potential solution in improving Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) management is the use of technology, providing additional opportunities to support management, maintain and improve communication and engagement with healthcare services. Patients use Internet to search and interact with a community of patients with similar problems; to share clinical information; and to provide and receive support. Facebook with over 2.1 billion active monthly users worldwide is important source of information, support and engagement for patients with chronic disease. It can be used as a supportive tool in disease management for patients and families, which is not necessarily available through formal professional consultation. This paper describes several analysis and interventions among 478 T1D patients who use social media as communication tool with health providers. Practical implications for understanding the social media support, needs of T1D patients and enhancing social media for this population are discussed. Social media like Facebook and Viber can improve glucose control. Patients using insulin pumps more often use social media in communication and has significantly lower HbA1c compared to patients without social media use. We believe that in today’s challenging healthcare environment of limited budgets and resources with a desire to provide better diabetes care, new methods of patient interaction using social media can be beneficial.