Young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) often feel overwhelmed by the relentlessness of managing their disease, referred to as diabetes distress, and have among the highest blood sugar levels of people with T1D. Shivani Agarwal, M.D., M.P.H., and Jeffrey Gonzalez, Ph.D., have now received a grant from JDRF, the leading global nonprofit funder of T1D research, to conduct a study that uses telemedicine-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) targeted specifically for young adults with T1D and diabetes distress. The researchers will recruit 150 young adults nationally, aged 18 to 30, to evaluate whether telemedicine-delivered CBT plus continuous glucose monitor (CGM) will yield significant improvement in both diabetes distress and blood sugar control compared with CGM alone, which is the current standard of care. Special efforts will be made to include non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic young adults, and those who are primarily Spanish-speaking.

Dr. Agarwal is assistant professor of medicine at Einstein and director of the Supporting Emerging Adults with Diabetes (SEAD) program at Montefiore. Dr. Gonzalez is professor of medicine and of epidemiology and population health at Einstein, clinical psychologist at Montefiore, and professor of psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University.

Read JDRF press release.