Diabetes Island: A virtual world to support an underserved population with diabetes

Background. Diabetes has been identified as an emerging epidemic and is continuing to grow in prevalence. The burden of diabetes, including prevalence and risk of complications, is greater for low-income individuals and minority groups, especially African Americans. The Healthy People 2010 report notes that the burden of diabetes can be reduced through facilitating optimal self-management. The internet offers a new approach to reaching large populations with diabetes, while removing barriers often seen in underserved populations. In particular, Second Life, the most frequently used virtual world environment, with millions of registered users offers a unique opportunity for reaching people with diabetes. Purpose. The study purpose is to develop, implement, and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of a Second Life virtual reality intervention (“Diabetes Island”). Methods. Diabetes Island is designed to provide diabetes self-management information, experiential activities, and support to facilitate optimal diabetes self-management in African Americans with type 2 diabetes attending primary care clinics. Diabetes Island includes interactive contextual experiences in a virtual world that will provide learning and problem solving opportunities, live in-world educational events hosted by multidisciplinary health care professionals, and opportunities for interactions with others with diabetes. Results. Data collection is ongoing. This presentation will include a demonstration of the internet based virtual world application and will provide lessons learned in its development and preliminary findings from its evaluation. Discussion. If feasible, acceptable and effective, this intervention has the potential to be easily expanded for other populations and to be easily implemented in other primary care clinics.