ABCD 2023 winning poster

This poster was presented at the ABCD meeting, 5-6 September 2023 at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh

Br J Diabetes 2023;23:137 

https://doi.org/10.15277/bjd.2023.423

Digitising diabetes education for a safer Ramadan: design, delivery and evaluation of massive open online courses in Ramadan-focused diabetes education

MACKENZIE SC,1 MEHAR S,2 BARAKATUN-NISAK MY,3 DICKSON J,4 ADATIA N,1 ALSULAMI A,5 AKSI B,6 BAXTER MS,7 BICKERTON A,8 BHARAJ HS,9 CAMPBELL A,1 CUMMING KM,1 IBRAHIM L,10 LIM LL,11, LESSAN N,12 GHOURI N13,14

1. MyWay Digital Health, Dundee, UK; 2. Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, Imperial College London, UK; 3.Universitiy Putra Malaysia, Department of Dietetics Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Selangor, Malaysia; 4. Population Health and Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK; 5. Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 6. Patient advocate, Glasgow, UK; 7. Centre for Medical Informatics, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; 8. Department of Diabetes & Endocrinology, Yeovil District Hospital, Somerset Foundation Trust, Yeovil, UK; 9.NHS Bolton Foundation Trust, Bolton, UK; 10. Regency Specialist Hospital, Diabetes Care Unit, Johor Bahru, Malaysia; 11. Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 12. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China; 13. Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 14. School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; 15. Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK; 16. School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK; 17. Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University Oxford, Oxford, UK; 18. British Islamic Medical Association, UK; 19. Dubai Hospital, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Background: Ramadan-focused diabetes education is critical to facilitate safer Ramadan fasting amongst Muslim people with diabetes.1 However, access to and engagement with education is variable, and many healthcare professionals (HCPs) are inadequately equipped to deliver it.2,3 Digitisation can democratise high-quality diabetes education at low cost.4

Methods: Two Ramadan-focused massive open online course (MOOCs) were developed and delivered for Ramadan 2023: one for HCPs in English, and another for people with diabetes in English, Arabic and Malay. A user-centred iterative design process was adopted, informed by a 2022 pilot MOOC. The MOOCs featured interactive elements, videos, patient stories and live multilingual Q&A sessions. Delivered between 7th March and 24th April 2023, promotion occurred through diabetes organisations and health authorities. Evaluation included platform usage analysis and mixed-methods evaluation of user surveys.

Results: A total of 1,531 users registered for the platform from more than 50 countries; 809 started a course (549 HCPs MOOC; 260 patients MOOC) and 387 completed a course. HCPs worked in mostly (60%) non-diabetes specialist roles, 55% identified as Muslim and most self-reported high baseline levels of diabetes and Ramadan awareness. Users found the course to be informative and useful. In the HCP MOOC, users reported improved post- MOOC Ramadan awareness, associated diabetes knowledge and ability to manage diabetes during Ramadan (p<0.01).

Discussion: We demonstrate the potential of MOOCs to deliver culturally tailored, high-quality, low-cost, multilingual Ramadan-focused diabetes education to HCPs and people with diabetes. Evaluation demonstrated MOOCs to be useful and educational among a diverse cohort of worldwide learners.

References

  1. Hassanein M, Afandi B, Ahmedani MY, et al. Diabetes and Ramadan: practical guidelines 2021. Diabetes Research Clinical Practice 2022:109185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2021.109185
  2. Hassanein M, Alamoudi RM, Kallash MA, etal. Ramadan fasting in people with type 1 diabetes during COVID-19 pandemic: The DaR Global survey. Diabetes Research Clinical Practice 2021;172:108626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2020.108626
  3. Almansour HA, Chaar B, Saini Fasting, diabetes, and optimizing health outcomes for Ramadan observers: a literature review. DiabetesTherapy 2017; 8: 227-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13300-017-0233-7
  4. Mackenzie SC, Cumming KM, Mehar S, et Education at scale: Improvements in type 1 diabetes self-management following a massive open online course. DiabeticMedicine 2022;39(8): e14842. https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.14842

All abstracts are online at https://doi.org/10.15277/bjd.2023.424