What does taking part in diabetes research mean?
It means that you’re helping researchers to better understand diabetes, your experience living with it, or how effective their new ideas for treating and caring for diabetes are.
Taking part in research could involve:
- Sharing your experiences about diabetes by answering questions in a survey, interview or focus group
- Testing new treatments or tech for diabetes and its complications in clinical trials, to make sure that they are safe, effective and have a real impact on the lives of people with diabetes.
- Giving samples of blood or saliva to help researchers study what’s happening inside the body.
- Consenting to share your health data so researchers can observe large groups of people to look for patterns or factors that affect health – both in positive and negative ways.
Before you take part, researchers will give you lots of information on the study to make sure you feel comfortable about what’s involved. You can ask as many questions as you like, and you can decide to withdraw from the study at any time.
Who can take part in research?
Everyone affected by diabetes can take part in research – whether you’re living with diabetes, at risk, a family member or friend, or a healthcare professional treating the condition.
Some studies have specific recruitment criteria, such as the type of diabetes you’re living with, or the treatment you’re currently receiving. But with so many research opportunities out there, you’re likely to find one that’s open to you.
Why do researchers need you?
Research is all about learning more. To fully understand diabetes, researchers need to hear from people affected by it. Your experiences, challenges, and insights are incredibly valuable.
How much time will it take and will I be paid?
It depends on the study you take part in. It could be a short online survey taking 10 minutes, or an interview taking about an hour. If you’re helping to trial new treatments, you might be asked to pay multiple visits to the clinic across several months. You should be able to arrange your schedule with the researchers so it best suits you.
You could be reimbursed for your travel and time, usually in cash or in vouchers, but again this depends on the study you’re participating in.
What are the benefits of taking part in research?
- You’ll be advancing knowledge and helping to improve the outlook for people like you in the future.
- You could get access to pioneering new treatments before they become widely available through clinical trials. You’ll also get extra support and regular check-ins with healthcare experts throughout the trial.
- You could learn more about diabetes and the latest cutting-edge developments in treating it. And you may become better informed about your own health and diabetes management.
Are there any risks?
Before you decide to take part in any research, the team will go over any possible risks with you. All studies go through rigorous checks beforehand to make sure they are ethical, and the benefits outweigh the risks. But there are a few things to keep in mind.
Clinical trials test new treatments, which may have side effects. You could experience mild things, like nausea or rashes, but there’s a small chance they could be more serious. You will always be closely monitored to keep you safe.
Researchers may also not know exactly how well new treatments will work, or they might work differently than planned. It’s part of the research process to figure this out, but it could mean the treatment isn’t always effective for you.
Or you might not receive a new treatment at all. In some clinical trials, there’s a group of people who instead receive a dummy version, known as a placebo. This group is used to compare results with those who do receive the treatment, to allow researchers to see if it’s really working. Neither participants nor researchers will know who is receiving the real treatment or the placebo until the trial has ended.
Talking about or answering questions on your own experiences of diabetes could bring up difficult emotions or memories. It’s important to let the researchers know if anything becomes overwhelming.
