Transdisciplinary care intervention for young adults with type 1 diabetes transitioning to adult healthcare: Rationale and trial design

There is a critical need for efficacious interventions targeting the psychosocial and systems level barriers to successful healthcare transitions in young adults (YA) with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Transdisciplinary Care for Transition (TCT) is a novel intervention that involves conjoint delivery of T1D care by a diabetes nurse educator, social worker/transition navigator, and psychologist during the transition between pediatric and adult T1D healthcare settings. The TCT team will participate in cross discipline training, see YA jointly for three 60-min virtual visits, and collaborate in care delivery by integrating their respective knowledge and skills. The goal of TCT is to improve healthcare utilization, transition readiness and success, and diabetes outcomes in YA with T1D. We will recruit 80 YA with T1D to participate in a randomized pilot trial with two arms: 1) usual care control; and 2) TCT. We will collect healthcare utilization data, patient-reported outcomes, and glycemic levels at baseline and 6 and 12 months later. We aim to examine the feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, and initial efficacy of TCT compared to usual care in YA with T1D. This paper describes the rationale, trial design, and methodology of the TCT study.