Wales

The recently completed evaluation of SEREN at diagnosis has been published in the BMJ Open Quality journal.

This paper is recognition of the huge amount of work that has been carried out by the SEREN group in order to address the need for evaluation of this structured education intervention.

Evaluating the SEREN programme was recognised as important from the very beginning of the programme. From its inception in 2013, the team working on the education programme were aware that formal evaluation of the resources would need to be carried out.

The focus of the evaluation was first on qualitative outcomes such as Diabetes related quality of life (QoL) and the user friendliness of the resources developed in Wales. Clinical outcomes, including HbA1c, engagement with services and diabetes related hospital admissions post-diagnosis were also looked at.

Evaluation packs were designed and distributed to 2 cohorts of children and young people (CYPs) and their families with a new diagnosis of T1DM in the year pre and post introduction of the diagnosis module. All CYPs diagnosed during these time periods were invited to take part. A response rate of over 80% was achieved and data collated subjected to statistical analysis.

Results

Parent scores for the educational package significantly improved post-SEREN and there was a non-significant trend towards favouring the package in the children. However, the scores related to quality of life were similar. Overall, with this single module there was no change in clinical outcomes within the first year of diagnosis

This shows the introduction of the SEREN education programme at diagnosis improved the experience of self-management of Type 1 diabetes. The SEREN group are now embarking on evaluating the digital component of the module and plan additional evaluation of the follow on modules to further assess the benefit of the programme. In the longer term, they would also like to assess the health economic impact of the programme.

“The SEREN Group is very grateful for the input of all the diabetes teams across Wales. We are also indebted to the children and young people (CYP) and their families who completed the evaluation forms. It is a shared success of everyone’s involvement” says Claire Baker, SEREN Co-ordinator.

The paper is available online at BMJ Open Quality.

Please contact the SEREN Core Group if you would like further information about the paper. The Core Group are Claire Baker, Yvonne Davies, Dr Rebekah Pryce and Dr Nirupa D’Souza.