The Women’s Wellness with Type 2 Diabetes Programme: Feasibility of an online peer support and goal-setting intervention for midlife women

Abstract

Objective The Women’s Wellness with Type 2 Diabetes Programme (WWDP) is a complex intervention, encouraging positive lifestyle behaviours to enhance wellness outcomes. A previous feasibility study found the original WWDP had a good effect signal and was acceptable to women but had challenges with national scalability. In response, the programme was revised (WWDP+). This study evaluated the feasibility of delivering the WWDP+ and its evaluation procedures and assessed physical and psychosocial outcomes in midlife women to inform the design of a future randomised controlled trial. Methods A single arm, pre- and post-intervention design were conducted. Women living with type 2 diabetes and aged between 45–65 years were recruited via a social media campaign using purposive sampling targeting individuals who had previously expressed interest in type 2 diabetes research. Alongside recruitment and completion rates, clinical and behavioural study outcomes were assessed at baseline, 3 months and 6 months post baseline. Individualised goals were set at week 3 and assessed at 12-week. Analysis comprised descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon’s signed-rank and paired t tests. Results Thirty-four women (mean age = 55.4) from diverse backgrounds participated. Feasibility targets were met: 77% recruitment of eligible women, 88% 12-week completion, and data completeness of 82% at 3 months and 79% at 6 months. Post-intervention diabetes distress decreased by 1.52 points (p < 0.001), self-reported HbA1c decreased by 13 mmol/mol (p < 0.02) and BMI by 0.6 kg/m 2 (p < 0.049). Menopausal symptoms declined by 13 points on the Greene scale (p < 0.001). Improvements were observed in diabetes self-efficacy (+7.4 points, p < 0.001), general health (+27.5 points, p < 0.01), sleep disturbance (–6.2 points, p < 0.002), and confidence in making dietary choices (+1.1 points, p < 0.02). Goal attainment scores indicated that 68% of participants achieved or exceeded their expectations. Conclusions This feasibility study suggests that the WWDP+ is acceptable and feasible for midlife women with type 2 diabetes. The findings will directly inform the design, sample size, and recruitment strategies of a fully powered randomised controlled trial to evaluate WWDP+ effectiveness. Trial registration ISRCTN: ISRCTN93338547. https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN93338547