651-P: Validation of a Clinically Relevant Knowledge Assessment in Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Objective assessment of diabetes knowledge is essential to providing effective diabetes education. There is currently no such resource or instrument designed for pediatric clinical use and validated in the target population. We developed and validated the Knowledge Assessment in T1D (KAT-1) for this purpose. The KAT-1 has a total of 109 multiple choice items divided into 11 subscales designed to be taken individually. Following a pilot study to optimize the KAT-1, a validation study was performed with 200 participants (60% privately insured; 70% female; mean child A1c 8.2%; 10% African American, 11% Hispanic), including 50 parents of children with T1D <10 years; 50 parents of children with T1D ages 11-15 years; 50 adolescents with T1D ages 11-15 years; and fifty 16-21 year olds with T1D. All completed the KAT-1, Diabetes Knowledge Test 2 (DKT2), and a demographic survey. SPSS was used to evaluate the results. The complete KAT-1 scale demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.92, mean score 84.6, SD = 16.1). Nine of the 11 topical subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency and each took <5 minutes to complete: Supplies/Insurance (α = 0.82, mean time = 2.3 minutes, 9 questions), Hypoglycemia (α = 0.57, time = 3.1 minutes, 8Q), Sick Days/Ketones (α = 0.73, time = 3.2 minutes, 11Q), Basic Management (α = 0.63, time = 3.7 minutes, 13Q), Insulin (α = 0.67, time = 1.7 minutes, 12Q), Pathophysiology (α = 0.66, time = 4.1 minutes, 10Q), Technology/Devices (α = 0.86, time = 2.1 minutes, 15Q), Nutrition (α = 0.51, time = 2 minutes, 7Q), and Diabetes at School (α = 0.52, time = 4.3 minutes, 9Q). Subscale scores were positively correlated with one another. Total scores were positively correlated with the DKT2 and negatively correlated with the child’s reported A1c. All correlations were significant. The validated KAT-1 facilitates objective and expedient assessment of T1D knowledge. Its subscales will be integrated into the EHR as patient-facing surveys to quickly identify individual learning needs and allow for targeted T1D education. Disclosure A. Albanese-O'Neill: None. J.W. MacInnes: None. N.T. Thomas: None. M.J. Haller: Advisory Panel; Self; Pancreum, SAB Biotherapeutics. D. Schatz: None. J. Silverstein: None. J. Adams: None. R. Oyetoro: None. B.A. Kershaw: None. K. Anderson: None. A. Bernier: None.