Background:
This study investigated treatment adherence in a group of adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. Adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years formed two groups. The young adolescents were aged between 13 and 14 years and the older adolescents were aged between 15 and 18 years. In addition, half of the sample used the traditional form of treatment for diabetes, the self-administration of multiple daily insulin injections (MDI) and half used a continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII). The effect of the gender of the individuals in the sample was also investigated. Researchers were interested in determining if treatment type influenced adolescent’s adherence to treatment.
The following information was provided:
Variables used are in the data file 6020PSY_Ass2_2015Q2 located on the course website. There were 144 participants.
Treatment Adherence. This is the score on one of the sub-scales from the diabetes module of the pediatric quality of life scales (Varni et al., 2003). The score presented is a scaled score based on the seven item measure. The higher the score, the greater is the adherence to treatment.?SPSS variable name: treat_adherence
Treatment type: 0 = CSII (continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion) 1 = MDI (multiple daily injections)
SPSS variable name: treat_type
Age-group: 0 = younger adolescents (13-14 years) 1 = older adolescents (15-18 years)
SPSS variable name: age_group
Gender: 0 = male?1 = female
SPSS variable name: gender
Question:
The use of the continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) to treat Type 1 diabetes is a relatively new and expensive treatment.
The advantage of this treatment is that adolescents do not have to self- administer multiple daily injections because of a continuous slow infusion of insulin into the body. It was expected that:
• Regardless of age group or gender, greater treatment adherence would be found for the group using CSII pump than the group using MDI.
• Treatment adherence using the CSII would not depend on age-group or gender.
• When using the MDI, treatment adherence for younger males would be greater than ?treatment adherence for older males.
• When using the MDI, there would be no significant difference in treatment adherence for younger and older females.
• In the younger age-group, treatment adherence would be significantly greater for the group using the CSII than for the group using the MDI. In these groups there would be no influence of gender.
• In the older age group, treatment adherence would be significantly greater for the group using the MDI than for the group using the CSII.
• In the older age group, regardless of treatment type (CSII or MDI), males were expected to report significantly lower treatment adherence than females.
Do the following:
Part 1:
• Select the most appropriate analysis to investigate the influence of age-group, gender, and treatment type on treatment adherence in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. What analysis should be conducted?
o Determine whether the assumptions of the analyses are satisfied. In your answer report any:
- Action that was taken to check these assumptions.
- Violation of assumptions found that will influence the interpretability of the data. Report how you expect the violation of the assumption could have a detrimental influence of the outcome of the analysis.
- Action that was taken to correct major difficulties (if any).
Part 2:
• Perform the appropriate statistical analyses, ensuring that all needed statistical tests are conducted to answer the hypotheses posed.
- At each step of the analysis conducted, report what specific analysis was undertaken and why the specific technique selected was used.
- Produce the appropriate figures and/or tables necessary to describe the results of the analyses conducted.
Part 3:
Report, statistically and descriptively the outcome of each of the analyses conducted
Ensure that the correct interpretation is made for each of the research questions posed. This must be undertaken clearly and concisely.
Write a conclusion (under the heading “Conclusion”) in which you use your results to make a recommendation about the success or failure of the CSII pump compared to the MDI as a treatment for youth with Type 1 diabetes.
When writing this final section, keep in mind a parent who is considering the purchase of the CSII as a mode of treatment for his/her adolescent recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes could read your work to assist them when making a decision.