Background:
Diabetes education groups exist to support self-care and can take place in many ways, including through technologies. Barriers associated with participating in face-to-face groups can be overcome with the use of digital health interventions and it is perceived that there is a knowledge breach in relation to studies that address this issue with intervention methodologies.

Objective:
To develop a virtual type 1 diabetes education program lasting 12 weeks; to measure self-care and quality of life before and after the intervention and, to evaluate the effectiveness of the virtual program in the metabolic control.

Method:
This is a methodological study, based on a diabetes education protocol in virtual format. This protocol consisting in sending educational messages through a WhatsApp group. Before and after the intervention, clinical and laboratory data on glycemic control were collected, and the Diabetes Quality of Life Measurement Questionnaire (DQLMQ-Brazil) and part of the Diabetes Self-Care Questionnaire (DSCQ) were applied.

Results:
The educational material was based on the recommendations of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, and consisted of texts, images, infographics and links. The pilot project was executed with 6 people, with an average age of 31 and average time since diagnosis of 14.6 years. There was an improvement in the quality of life score and an increase in the weekly frequency of following up on healthy eating, fruit and vegetable consumption, capillary blood glucose measurement and clinical examination of the feet. There was no statistical significance in the analyzed variables.

Conclusion:
It is concluded that the diabetes education tool built is practical to implement and has increased access capacity, and can be used by various professionals and health institutions.