Diabetes Self Management in Individuals from Modest Socieconomic Status (SES) Backgrounds

Participants diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) from lower income backgrounds will receive personalized health coaching to support engagement in vigorous regular exercise and healthy eating aimed at regulating blood glucose and reducing risks of costly diabetes-related complications. The health coaching makes use of a Blackberry smart phone preinstalled with health behaviour promoting – monitoring software designed and written in collaboration with NexJ Systems. Diabetes poses a serious economic burden to Ontario’s health care budget, but with optimal disease management, the probabilities of expensive complications and consequent treatment can be minimized. Personalized health coaching paired with eHealth monitoring provides a low-cost solution to Ontario’s escalating health care expenditures relevant to multiple chronic diseases by facilitating adherence to healthy behaviours. NexJ systems’ will directly benefit from this research since its software will be directly user-tested under controlled research protocols.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Paul Ritvo

Student:

Noah Wayne

Partner:

NexJ Systems Inc.

Discipline:

Kinesiology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

York University