Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39538423›Full record

ArticleDiabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association2025

Evaluating a mental health support mobile app for adults with type 1 diabetes living in rural and remote communities: The REACHOUT pilot study.

Tricia S Tang, Gerri Klein, Matthias Görges, Annie Yip, Lawrence Fisher, William H Polonsky, Danielle Hessler, Deanne Taylor

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In one paragraph

Article in Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Tricia S TangDivision of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0105-1390
Gerri KleinBC Diabetes, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1543-8438
Matthias GörgesDepartment of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2193-178X
Annie YipFaculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9464-0432
Lawrence FisherDepartment of Family Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9481-9727
William H PolonskyBehavioral Diabetes Institute, San Diego, California, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9064-6144
Danielle HesslerDepartment of Family Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4568-6953
Deanne TaylorInterior Health Authority, Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6684-1860

Funding

Breakthrough T1D 2-SRA-2020-986-S-BMichael Smith Health Research BC/Breakthrough T1D Canada Health Professional-Investigator Award HPI-2021-2359
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsTo evaluate a mobile app that delivers mental health support to adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) living in rural and remote communities using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Intervention fidelity, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework.

methodsThis study recruited 46 adults to participate in a 6-month intervention using REACHOUT, a mobile app that delivers peer-led mental health support (one-on-one, group-based texting and face-to-face virtual). Baseline and 6-month assessments measured diabetes distress (DD), depressive symptoms and perceived support (from family/friends, health care team and peers) along with other RE-AIM metrics.

resultsCalculations for reach and adoption found that 3% of eligible adults enrolled in REACHOUT and 55% of diabetes education centres participated in recruitment efforts. Maintenance metrics revealed 56% and 24% of peer supporters and participants, respectively, became peer supporters for a subsequent randomized controlled trial of REACHOUT. Post-intervention reductions were observed for overall distress (p = 0.007), powerlessness (p = 0.009), management distress (p = 0.001), social perception distress (p = 0.023), eating distress (p = 0.032) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.009); and elevations in support from family/friends and peers. After adjusting for sex and age, only support-related improvements persisted. When analysing women and men groups separately, women reported lower levels of overall distress, three distress subscales, and higher levels of family/friends and peer support whereas men did not.

conclusionsWhile reach was relatively low, metrics for adoption and maintenance are promising. Improvements in distress were observed for the total sample, but these changes were reduced when controlling for sex and age, with significance maintained only for women. Digital health-enabled peer support may be instrumental in the delivery of mental health support to geographically isolated communities.

Indexed as

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1Mobile ApplicationsAdultDepressionFemaleHumansMaleMental HealthMiddle AgedPeer GroupPilot ProjectsRural PopulationSocial SupportYoung Adultmental healthmHealthpeer supporttype 1 diabetes; digital health

Identifiers

PMID39538423
PMCPMC11823309

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.