PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of using human patient simulation (HPS) to teach type 1 diabetes (T1DM) management to grandparents of grandchildren with T1DM.

METHODS: Thirty grandparents (11 male, 19 female) of young grandchildren (aged 12 and under) with T1DM were recruited from an urban medical center. Experimental group (n = 14) grandparents received hands-on visual T1DM management education using an HPS intervention, and control group (n = 16) grandparents received similar education using a non-HPS intervention.

FINDINGS: This study demonstrated the feasibility of recruiting and retaining grandparents into a clinical trial using HPS to teach T1DM management. Post intervention, all grandparent scores for T1DM knowledge, confidence, and fear showed significant improvement from time 1 to time 2, with HPS group grandparent scores showing consistently larger improvement.

CONCLUSIONS: The consistency of larger HPS-taught grandparent score improvement is suggestive of a benefit for the HPS teaching method. Early multimethod Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE)-provided T1DM education is an important point of entry for inducting grandparent members onto the grandchild's diabetes care team.