title: Building a Virtual Environment for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support.
abstract: The authors developed an immersive diabetes community to provide diabetes self-management education and support for adults with type 2 diabetes. In this article the authors describe the procedures used to develop this virtual environment (VE). Second Life Impacts Diabetes Education & Self-Management (SLIDES), the VE for our diabetes community was built in Second Life. Social Cognitive Theory, behavioral principles and key aspects of virtual environments related to usability were applied in the development in this VE. Collaboration between researchers, clinicians and information technology (IT) specialists occurred throughout the development process. An interactive community was successfully built and utilized to provide diabetes self-management education and support. VEs for health applications may be innovative and enticing, yet it must be kept in mind that there are substantial effort, expertise, and usability factors that must be considered in the development of these environments for health care consumers.
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Rockcliffe University Consortium, Newport Beach, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Feenan
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Setliff
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hassell
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Henry F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Beresford
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Shelly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Epps
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nicollerat
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tatum
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feinglos
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vorderstrasse
keywords: Diabetes; Diabetes Education; Self-Management; Technical Architecture; Virtual Environment