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BACKGROUND Type 1 diabetes (T1D) affects more than 165,000 individuals younger than 20 years in the United States of America. The transition from parent management to parent-child team management, with the child taking on increased levels of self-care, can be stressful and is associated with a deterioration in self-management behaviors. Therefore, a mobile app intervention, MyT1DHero, was designed to facilitate diabetes-specific positive parent-adolescent communication and improve diabetes-related outcomes. The MyT1DHero intervention links an adolescent with T1D and their parent through 2 separate app interfaces and is designed to promote positive communication regarding T1D management. OBJECTIVE The aim of this pilot study was to determine (1) the initial efficacy of the MyT1DHero intervention in improving diabetes outcomes in adolescents, specifically the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, diabetes care adherence, and quality of life, and (2) the adolescents’ overall satisfaction with this intervention. METHODS This pilot study included 30 adolescent-parent pairs who used the MyT1DHero app in a 12-week single-arm clinical trial. Participants were recruited from the local pediatric endocrinology subspecialty clinic via snowball sampling. HbA1c levels, diabetes care adherence, quality of life, family conflict, and satisfaction levels were measured and analyzed using paired sample two-sided t tests and linear regression analyses. RESULTS The final analysis included 25 families. The mean age of the adolescents was 12.28 (SD 1.62) years. Half of the participants (13/25) reported a diabetes diagnosis of less than 5 years. After 12 weeks of the intervention, diabetes care adherence significantly improved (before the study: mean 3.87 [SD 0.59]; after the study: mean 4.19 [SD 0.65]; t21=–2.52, P=.02, d=0.52) as did quality of life (before the study: mean 4.02 [SD 0.84]; after the study: mean 4.27 [SD 0.73]; t24=2.48, P=.01, d=0.32). HbA1c levels (before the study: mean 8.94 [SD 1.46]; after the study: mean 8.87 [SD 1.29]; t24=0.67, P=.51, d=0.04) and family conflict (before the study: mean 2.45 [SD 0.55]; after the study: mean 2.61 [SD 0.45]; t23=0.55, P=.14, d=0.32) changed in the hypothesized direction, but the change was not significant. However, higher use of the mobile app was associated with more improvement in HbA1c levels (F1,20=9.74, P2=0.33). Overall, the adolescents were satisfied with the app intervention. CONCLUSIONS In a 12-week pilot study of the mobile app intervention designed to facilitate parent-adolescent communication for improving diabetes outcomes, significant benefits were demonstrated in self-care adherence and quality of life. A randomized controlled trial with a longer intervention is needed to replicate these findings and to determine the stability of the intervention effects. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03436628; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03436628

BACKGROUND Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) afflicts approximately 154,000 people under the age of 20 in the United States. Most people with T1DM are diagnosed at a young age, and parents have to take on the responsibility of T1DM management. Eventually, the child must begin to transition to self-management. Adolescents often struggle to take on responsibility for all the necessary tasks to successfully self-manage their T1DM. In fact, approximately three-quarters of adolescents are not achieving American Diabetes Association–recommended glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) targets. This lack of adherence can lead to negative health outcomes. OBJECTIVE The goals of this interdisciplinary proposal are as follows: (1) to develop a unique and theory-driven technology using a mobile phone app to promote self-management behaviors for adolescents aged 10-15 years with T1DM and their parents and (2) to explore the feasibility and impact of the self-management mobile app. METHODS This study has two phases: app development and pilot testing. In the app development phase, the app will be conceptualized and a prototype will be tested. In Phase 2, the mobile app will undergo pilot testing to determine its feasibility and impact on diabetes self-management. RESULTS The pilot test was launched in September 2017. Data collection for the final pilot test is underway, and results are forthcoming. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents with T1DM and their parents can have a difficult time managing the transition of diabetes care. It is hoped that this app can help. The focus groups and prototype testing have indicated promising outcomes of app use. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03436628; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03436628 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/72tHXTE2Z) INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPOR RR1-10.2196/10803