SMARTCLOTH-Odyssey for Nutrition Education in Type 1 Diabetes: Development and Acceptability Study of a Gamified...

The onset of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in adolescence represents a challenge for patients, families, and health care professionals. Diabetes nurse educators identify a lack of adolescent-friendly educational resources, especially in nutrition education. Digital technology offers an opportunity to develop innovative tools to address these needs from a user-centered approach.

We aimed to design and evaluate the acceptability of the SMARTCLOTH-Odyssey platform, an interactive web tool designed to support diabetes nurse educators in delivering nutrition education based on carbohydrate counting to adolescents with recent T1DM, evaluated from the perspective of nurse educators.

A mixed study was carried out in three phases: (1) qualitative analysis through two focus groups with nurse educators in the Andalusian Community to identify barriers and needs; (2) development of the digital tool following a human-centered design methodology, incorporating narrative and gamified elements; and (3) quantitative evaluation of acceptability through an ad hoc questionnaire applied to 40 professionals who tested the platform.

Participants highlighted the lack of homogeneous and adapted debut materials, and the need for emotionally sensitive and visually appealing tools. SMARTCLOTH-Odyssey was rated positively in terms of usefulness, clarity, and clinical applicability. A total of 97.5% (39/40) felt it could facilitate nutrition education, and 90% (36/40) said they would use it in their practice. The platform was perceived as intuitive, innovative, and adapted to the characteristics of the adolescent patient.

SMARTCLOTH-Odyssey constitutes a viable and well-valued proposal by nurse educators. It has the potential to improve nutrition education from the diagnosis of T1DM. Its participatory development reinforces its applicability and sustainability in real clinical contexts.