Chair Living with Type 1 diabetes
Aim
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic, autoimmune disorder that leads to the loss of the body’s own insulin production. This results in elevated blood glucose levels, creating risks for both acute and chronic complications. Treatment with artificial insulin is complex and intensive and therefore has a significant impact on the lives of the people with type 1 diabetes. With this chair, Ghent University wishes to obtain a better grasp on the non-medical challenges and barriers that people with type 1 diabetes may encounter. While the therapeutic challenges – most importantly regulating blood glucose levels – are well known and barriers in this area are increasingly being overcome (through innovations such as real-time glucose monitoring, and closed loop insulin pump therapy), this is much less the case for other important aspects of life. Consider, for example, the impact of the disorder and the treatment on school performance and study choices, participation in leisure activities (sports, youth movements, hobbies etc.), forming relationships and family planning, professional achievements and socio-economic success.
Some barriers are clear. For example, people with type 1 diabetes are denied access to certain professions (professional firefighter, commercial diver, etc.), driver’s licenses are subject to periodic certification, and premiums for mortgage protection and other types of insurance are higher. Other barriers, however, may be more subtle and remain insufficiently documented. Furthermore, potentially influential factors such as the timing of diagnosis, the importance of the family structure and social network, or the use of medical technology are unknown.
With this chair, research will be financed with the aim of mapping the existing non-medical barriers for people with type 1 diabetes in Flanders, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. An important methodological aspect of this research project will be the contribution and input of the patient, which will be obtained through focus groups and co-creation processes. The insights gained from this research will lead to a better understanding of the impact of a chronic disorder like type 1 diabetes on the various aspects of life, and will contribute to better regulation and support structures for people with type 1 diabetes.
Donor
Period
2025 - present
Supervisor
Prof. dr. Bruno Lapauw
Prof. Bruno Lapauw is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University . As physician-endocrinologist, he is also the head of the Department of Endocrinology at University Hospital Ghent, and professor of medicine at Ghent University. Together with his fellow researchers he studies which factors contribute to better management of diabetes and which influence diabetes has on organ systems such as muscles and bone.