Some UF researchers have challenged diabetes patients to sum up their disease in five snapshots.
Ashby Walker, associate professor and chair of social sciences at Mars Hill College, is co-investigator of the project. She said she has been in collaboration with doctors from the UF Diabetes Center of Excellence on a clinical trial called the Diabetes Photo Project since the summer of 2010.
The researchers gave participants disposable cameras and told them to take five pictures about what diabetes means to them.
The research explores the experiences of youths who live with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and their parents or guardians through surveys and visual storyboards, according to the UF at Shands website.
During a survey, participants were told to list each picture and explain why they took it.
“Understanding the youth perspective could help us improve clinical care,” Walker said. “It can also help with advocacy and general awareness.”
Walker said more than 40 children have completed their surveys and returned their cameras.
“The beauty and power is the information that they have offered and the time they have shared with us,” Walker said.
Shannon Lyles, who is a Type 1 diabetic, is a registered nurse specialist and certified diabetes educator with UF Pediatric Endocrinology and was involved in the trial by helping to recruit patients to participate.
“I don’t think anything like this has been done before,” Lyles said. “Giving them a camera and letting them put their feelings out there gives the study credibility and opens up future studies.”
Walker said there are some interesting trends in the photos.
“They tend to take photos of foods they cannot have or are off-limits,” she said.
