A social networking website that provides educational support to children living with Type 1 diabetes

Increasing access and use of social networking websites and tools by young people is enabling new opportunities for use in health care (Kamel Boulos & Wheeler, 2007). But, little is known about how these technologies can be used by hospital-based clinicians for the purposes of communicating, educating and supporting young people. Thus the research study reported in this case study investigated how to design, build and implement a hospital-based social networking website for children and adolescents to interact with clinicians and themselves. This case explains how the site was designed to support children living with Type 1 diabetes using an iterative research design process, the decisions made during this time, and the experiences of the clinicians as the website was implemented. Additionally the chapter describes the design principles and processes necessary for successful social networking websites that support young people living with diabetes.