Virtual intervention co-creation yields adaptable, communicative, and trackable diabetes care model

Why It Matters

This approach ensures that digital health solutions are not only technically sound but also practical and usable within real-world settings, involving stakeholders from the outset to foster adoption and sustainability.

Key Finding

Through collaborative design and usability testing, a virtual diabetes care intervention was developed that is adaptable, facilitates communication, tracks outcomes, and is perceived as highly usable by school nurses.

Key Findings

• Over 90 unique ideas were generated, prioritizing adaptability, team communication, and multidimensional outcome tracking.
• The virtual intervention prototype was successfully developed through three iterations.
• Usability evaluation identified specific concerns that were prioritized and addressed.
• School nurses reported high usability for the intervention prototype.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can user-centered design and implementation science be combined to develop and evaluate a virtual, school-partnered collaborative care model for pediatric type 1 diabetes?

Method: Mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) user-centered design and usability evaluation.

Procedure: Phase 1 involved iterative, web-based design sessions with patient, family, school, and health system partners to co-create a virtual intervention prototype using digital whiteboards for idea generation, voting, and critique. Phase 2 evaluated the prototype's usability with school nurses through cognitive walkthroughs and the Intervention Usability Scale (IUS).

Sample Size: 20 partners in phase 1, 10 school nurses in phase 2.

Context: Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes management, school-based health interventions, virtual care models.

Design Principle

Co-design and iterative usability testing are fundamental to developing effective and implementable digital health solutions.

How to Apply

When developing any digital health tool or complex system, integrate end-users and domain experts from the initial concept phase through to final testing, using methods like co-design workshops and cognitive walkthroughs.

Limitations

The study focused on a specific condition (Type 1 Diabetes) and setting (school-based), and the sample size for usability testing was relatively small.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: When creating a new digital tool, especially for health, it's best to build it with the people who will use it (like patients, parents, and school staff) and test it with them many times to make sure it's easy to use and actually helps.

Why This Matters: This research shows that involving users in the design process leads to better, more usable products that are more likely to be successful in the real world.

Critical Thinking: To what extent can the success of this virtual intervention be attributed to the specific co-design methodology versus the inherent strengths of the original evidence-based intervention?

IA-Ready Paragraph: This research highlights the critical role of user-centered design and implementation science in developing effective virtual interventions. By co-creating the SPACE model with diverse stakeholders and employing iterative prototyping and usability testing, the study successfully adapted an evidence-based psychosocial intervention for pediatric type 1 diabetes, demonstrating high perceived usability and addressing key implementation barriers. This approach underscores the value of involving end-users and domain experts throughout the design lifecycle to ensure practical relevance and adoption.

Project Tips

• Involve a diverse range of users in your design process.
• Use prototyping tools to create interactive mock-ups for testing.
• Plan for iterative refinement based on user feedback.

How to Use in IA

• Reference this study when discussing the importance of user involvement in the design of digital products or health-related interventions.
• Use the methodology as an example of how to conduct co-design and usability testing for a design project.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of user-centered design principles.
• Show evidence of user testing and iterative refinement in your design process.

Independent Variable: ["User involvement in design (co-creation)","Iterative prototyping","Usability testing methods"]

Dependent Variable: ["Intervention adaptability","Team-based communication features","Multidimensional outcome tracking features","Intervention Usability Scale (IUS) scores"]

Controlled Variables: ["Type of intervention (psychosocial for Type 1 Diabetes)","Virtual delivery platform","Partner types (patient, family, school, health system)"]

Strengths

• Employed a robust mixed-methods approach.
• Involved a multidisciplinary group of partners in co-creation.
• Utilized established usability evaluation methods.

Critical Questions

• How might the intervention's effectiveness differ in settings with fewer resources or less technological infrastructure?
• What are the long-term sustainability implications of such a virtual, collaborative model?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the usability of a novel digital tool for a specific user group by employing co-design and iterative testing.
• Explore the adaptation of an existing design solution for a new context or user demographic.

Source

School-Partnered Collaborative Care (SPACE) for Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes: Development and Usability Study of a Virtual Intervention With Multisystem Community Partners · JMIR Diabetes · 2025 · 10.2196/64096