Laura Caccavale
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Psychology·Early-career
Young people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) face a risky stretch as they move into adulthood. Changes in their bodies, social lives and surroundings make daily diabetes care harder, and about 83% of adolescents and young adults with T1D have blood sugar levels outside the recommended range.
- Fields
Psychology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
type 1 diabetes
adolescents and young adults
transition to adult care
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Test whether the 6-month SHIFT2 transition program improves blood sugar control, measured by HbA1c, compared with enhanced usual care in a randomized trial of 50 people with type 1 diabetes aged 16–22.
- Evaluate whether SHIFT2 improves diabetes self-management and readiness to transition to adult care, delivered by Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists in person and through virtual visits.
- Train parents in age-appropriate strategies to support independent self-management, and give providers a video module on communicating with young patients during transition.
- Conduct qualitative interviews with 20 young person–parent pairs who have moved to adult care and with 10 endocrinology providers to refine the program for future studies.
More about the research
At the same point, they must switch from pediatric to adult healthcare. Few rigorous trials have tested how to prepare them for this move.
Why it matters
Most adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes have poorly controlled blood sugar, which puts them at risk for short- and long-term complications. A tested program that involves young people, parents and providers could help them manage diabetes more independently and feel ready for adult care. If effective, it could inform clinical guidelines for transition care.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sarah Haynes
University of California-Davis, CA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Develop implementation strategies for a virtual T1D transition program using implementation mapping grounded in the COM-B model, which explains behavior through capability, opportunity and motivation.
Katie Devine
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Psychology
Test whether Managing Your Health, a mobile app combined with six peer-mentor sessions, improves self-management behaviors and quality of life compared with educational control in a randomized trial of 300 childhood cancer survivors aged 18–25.
Gabriel Frietze
University of Texas at El Paso, TX·Public Health & Epidemiology
Identify barriers to and facilitators of joining diabetes self-management programs among Mexican-origin Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes and their healthcare providers, to guide the design of an online intervention.
The school
Virginia Commonwealth University: 19 labs on PI Pages, $524M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.