Improving access to school-based physical activity for young people with type 1 diabetes

Research shows that physical activity improves blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity and heart health as well as helping with weight, mood, and mental health management. Being physically active is important for everyone but it could be especially important for children with type 1 diabetes. This is because maintaining a healthy lifestyle could also help them manage their condition.

Schools play a crucial role in giving children and young people the chance to be active through:

• physical education (PE) lessons
• after school activities
• break or lunchtime activities
• sports events
• school camps
• encouraging students to walk or cycle to school

Students with diabetes should be able to take part in these activities. However, being physically active can be challenging for children with type 1 diabetes. This is because managing blood sugar levels during exercise requires careful planning and monitoring.

Research shows there may be gaps in what school staff know and how they perceive type 1 diabetes. There is also little evidence for how much PE teachers understand about exercising with the condition despite them playing a crucial role in promoting physical activity among children with the condition.

Project aims

We want to explore what PE teachers know, understand and think about exercise in children and young people with type 1 diabetes.

We will do this by conducting a systematic review. A systematic review involves identifying, assessing and summarising the research available on a specific topic.

What we hope to achieve

Exploring what PE teachers know and understand about exercise for children and young people with type 1 diabetes could help create targeted guidelines or interventions. This would improve the support given to children with type 1 diabetes not only in PE classes but also during other physical activities at school.

This work is being carried out thanks to the South West NHSE-NIHR integrated clinical and practitioner academic (ICA) programme. Monika Jakiel-Rusin (lead researcher) will be supervised by Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield in collaboration with Professor Russ Jago.