Introduction

In short:

• ADAPT is an award winning programme that universities can adopt and implement
• Universities using ADAPT will improve the life of students with type 1 diabetes (T1D)
• ADAPT helps students with T1D to live indepently with diabetes
• ADAPT makes university life easier for students with diabetes
• ADAPT helps students to improve their diabetes self management
• ADAPT aims to make universities diabetes friendly
• The ADAPT logo indicates to prospective students a diabetes friendly university

The ADAPT programme was recently discussed in The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology

Rationale

Living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is not easy. People with T1D need to:

• inject insulin multiple times daily
• adjust each insulin dose to amount of food and exercise
• regularly visit the health centre for checks
• deal with out of range blood glucose values
• learn to live with diabetes
• learn to understand how diabetes can be managed

Recent research (link) showed that students with T1D in the UK:

• 52% experienced frequent hypoglycemia
• 63% reported harder diabetes management since starting university
• 44% reported higher HbA1c levels than before university
• 9.6% reported one or more episodes of severe hypoglycaemia
• 26% experienced diabetes-related hospital admissions
• Despite these difficulties, 91% of respondents never or rarely contacted university support services about their diabetes

Clearly, students with diabetes do not receive the help they need to thrive at university. To change this, we designed and tested a novel approach for how universities organise their teams and procedures to help these students.

Key features of the ADAPT approach for supporting students with T1D:

• Age appropriate interaction with emerging adults
• Diabetes education on campus
• Academic support in line with challenges of living with diabetes
• Psychological support
• Togetherness of different teams and students with diabetes

History

The ADAPT programme started in 2022 at the University of Essex as a collaboration between the University Health Centre team and Professor Stoet of the Department of Psychology. We found that students with diabetes are often not realising what they are eligible for. We also found that they typically do not receive the much needed diabetes education and that it is difficult for them to make the relatively long journy to diabetes specialist services. Further, international students with T1D need to get used to the UK health care system.

We believe the challenges of living away from home, living with diabetes, and adjusting to a completely new way of independent life should be supported by the university and health care professionals in a coordinated way. That is what we set out and continue to do here at Essex University.

More academics and students got involved, and we have been bringing our ideas of better support for students with T1D to other universities as well.

Award winning

In 2024, the ADAPT programme was awarded the prestigious Quality in Care Diabetes Programme award. This is an award with judges from a wide range of UK diabetes health care providers and diabetes charities.

Manual

If you want to adopt ADAPT at your university, check our manual, which you can download from the certification page.

Certification

If you adopt ADAPT, make sure to apply for certification. This is simple and straightforward. It shows to future students that you provide supportive environment for students with diabetes. Find out more here

Given how poorly supported many students with T1D are, it is important for them to know where the best support is available.