The I-KAN Study: Internet Insulin Education for Kansans (I-KAN)

The proposed project will test in a limited number of rural and semi-rural sites in the state of Kansas an innovative model of synchronous ("live") Internet initiation and intensification of once daily basal insulin glargine or detemir in type 2 diabetic patients that can be deployed statewide in a subsequent larger study (R18). The study's specific aims are to 1) develop a synchronous ("live") interactive Internet-administered course designed to teach groups of type 2 diabetic patients to safely administer basal insulin without significant support from their usual source of diabetic management and to self-adjust the dose to achieve a HbA1c < 7.0% using a treat-to-target algorithm; and 2) to assess for the Internet patients selected clinical and psychometric outcomes. These will include HbA1c, frequency and severity of hypoglycemia, psychological resistance to insulin treatment, diabetes quality of life, and treatment satisfaction. The study builds upon the findings of the Treat-to-Target and INITIATE trials, as well as on successful Internet interventions for weight management, and both lays the conceptual foundation and gathers the expertise to successfully apply for the R18, which will have as primary aims addressing of delays to insulin therapy documented in the DAWN study and cost effectiveness analysis of the Internet intervention. The study hopes to show that Internet teaching of basal insulin therapy is comparable to traditional insulin management with respect to safety and effectiveness as measured against expected (published) results for frequency of hypoglycemia and percent of patients reaching target. Psychometric outcomes are exploratory - and hypothesis generating with respect to the subsequent R18 application.