Framed Diabetes Education

Mount Aloysius College contracted Flipside to create a system that would allow the researchers to determine the effect that "framing" has on diabetes education. For example, is it more effective for education to be delivered (framed) in a way that scares or shocks the patient (e.g. showing the results of poor foot care) or is it more effective to encourage the patient (e.g. highlight the benefit of proper foot care)? Flipside worked the researchers to develop educational videos with different framings, and then created touchscreen software that would randomize the study participants and place them into a study group. Each patient used the touchscreen kiosks to complete a baseline evaluation of his or her knowledge and understanding of diabetic foot care. The kiosk then presented the patient with a number of framed diabetes education videos. Finally, the patient completed the evaluation questions a second time. The patient also came in for three, six, and 12-month follow-up touchscreen evaluations to gauge retention and change of knowledge. All of this was remotely administered on the internet-connected kiosks and the data was gathered centrally on Flipside's secure servers.