Making sense of sensors with Trisha Dunning Scholarship recipient
Before she was announced as one of the inaugural recipients of the Trisha Dunning Scholarship in 2021, Belinda Moore’s last prize win had occurred a couple of decades prior.
“I applied (for the scholarship) not positive that I’d be a success,” Belinda says.“The last time I was awarded anything before this was in grade two, when I won a Violet Crumble in my school’s Melbourne Cup Day sweep.
“I was thrilled to receive the scholarship that honours Trisha Dunning – it was a little more exciting than a chocolate bar!“Trisha was a pioneer in qualitative research who did admirable work in many aspects of healthcare, especially in aged care, from a diabetes lens.”
Belinda is a registered nurse-midwife, a credentialled diabetes educator (CDE) and a clinical trials coordinator. She jumped at the opportunity to help bridge the gap between research outcomes and diabetes management.
“I wanted to make research a career, not only work clinically as a diabetes educator,” she explains.
“The most frustrating thing working clinically is that there’s such a gap between the clinical and the research world.
“There’s so much wasted research money because the research doesn’t filter through to the clinical setting or community.”
Making sense of sensors
Belinda received $20,000 to support her Master of Clinical Research thesis that was titled: ‘Wearable Glucose Sensors: if they work, how do they work, for adults with type 2 diabetes’.
This project explored how sensors modify behavioural and emotional responses for adults with type 2 diabetes so they can optimise their diabetes self-management.
A literature review before the project helped Belinda understand how people living with type 1 use sensors and how people living with type 2 use the same technology.
“There was only a small amount of literature on type 2, and it was all about how CGM modifies lifestyles, but it was vague,” she says.
“What I found during my research is that adults with type 2 use sensors from both an extrinsic and intrinsic perspective.
“The intrinsic factors are probably as you’d expect – When people had the confidence, satisfaction, and motivation the sensors were very beneficial with modifying behaviours and emotions.
“Extrinsic factors that enabled sensors to modify behaviours and emotions included diabetes education programs, blinded sensors where the data is not revealed instantly, feedback from digital diaries and apps and connecting with health professionals – building that rapport with clinicians.”
The common thread
Belinda says reducing diabetes stress and burnout and increasing access to credentialled diabetes educators is crucial to help people use sensors effectively.
“Yes, we need to subsidise CGMs for adults with type 2, but ideally before that – or at the same time – we need to increase access to credentialled diabetes educators – you can’t just throw a CGM at someone and say, ‘off you go.’
“Many general practitioners do not have the time to understand the intricacies of CGMs – we need to build up the workforce in the primary care sector and increase the skillset among diabetes specialists and non-specialists.
“People need to understand what to do with the numbers.”
“Adults who are using sensors want support – that was the common thread in most of the studies.
“Support not only from health professionals, but from family members. That’s something else we need to consider, have we prepared the families?
“Parents and partners, do they understand it? How do they cope with the alarms? We need more behavioural research funded so we can explore this.
“Having diabetes is not just about the person with diabetes, it affects the whole family.”
Belinda says longitudinal research is needed to learn how sensors help people sustain optimal diabetes management, prevent complications, and reduce the mental health burden in the long term.
Where to now?
Belinda has accepted an offer to complete a PhD in implementation science, which uses behavioural science theories and frameworks to help structure research.
“This really is the missing link,” she explains.
“People are getting frustrated because we’re not having the impact or achieving desired outcomes – implementation science tries to understand the why, who, what, when, and how.
“Implementation science maintains the context in research, so it’s relevant to the community and clinicians.
“There’s no point coming up with fantastic diabetes innovations if you don’t bring implementation science theories and frameworks into the research.”
Belinda is also a diabetes educator at the Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative in Shepparton and continues to work on the FlashGM Study for Indigenous Australians with type 2 diabetes.
The Trisha Dunning Scholarship honours the lifetime work of Emeritus Professor Trisha Dunning AM, a leading nurse, diabetes clinician, researcher, and educator. Learn more about the scholarship here.
