A Pilot Study of Acute Stress Symptoms in Parents and Youth Following Diagnosis of Type I Diabetes

Abstract

The primary aims of this exploratory study were to determine the rate of occurrence of acute stress disorder (ASD) in children newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and their parents, to examine relationships with demographic and psychosocial factors, and to examine the relationships between ASD symptom clusters and early adherence behavior (clinic attendance). The sample consisted of 102 parents of children ages 0-17 years and 40 youth ages 11-17 who were evaluated within three days of diabetes diagnosis. Eighteen percent of parents and 17% of youth reported subthreshold symptoms of ASD. Acute stress symptoms and demographic variables predicted clinic attendance, with a differential pattern evident in the responses of youth and their parents. These findings reinforce the importance of screening symptoms of ASD in youth with newly diagnosed diabetes and their parents to assist in identifying families who may be in need of additional support.

Psychosocial needs of parents and children accessing hospital outpatient paediatric services in New Zealand

“…The relationships among parent and child psychological adjustment, quality of life and child illness variables are complex and bi‐directional . Diagnosis of a child's illness may be an acute stressor for both parents and children, leading to increased risk of emotional disorders, child behaviour problems, and poor caregiver quality of life . While the significance of psychological distress in child illness populations is well‐established with regards to life‐threatening and chronic illnesses, less is known about the psychological functioning and service needs of general paediatric clinical populations and those experiencing less severe or acute health problems.…”

The psychosocial experience and needs of children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes from their own perspective: a systematic and narrative review

“…Twenty-five quantitative articles were included in the final analysis. Seventeen studies were conducted in the USA [5,11,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], five in Sweden [34][35][36][37][38], one in Israel [4] and two in Switzerland [39,40] (Table 4). Three studies were published more than 30 years ago [4,11,19], 10 were published between 20 and 30 years ago [5,[20][21][22][23][24]29,31,35,37], four were published between 10 and 20 years ago [28,30,38,39] and eight were published within the past 10 years [25][26][27][32][33][34]...…”

“…Three studies were published more than 30 years ago [4,11,19], 10 were published between 20 and 30 years ago [5,[20][21][22][23][24]29,31,35,37], four were published between 10 and 20 years ago [28,30,38,39] and eight were published within the past 10 years [25][26][27][32][33][34]40,41]. Eighteen studies were longitudinal [4,5,11,19,21,[23][24][25][26][27][30][31][32][33][34]36,37,40], two were cross-sectional [28,39] and another two were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) [20,35].…”

Maternal distress in the context of their child’s type 1 diabetes: exploring the role of adaptive maternal emotion regulation on child outcomes

“…They are at risk of developing anxiety, mood, and eating disorders (Butwicka et al, 2016;Geisbüsch & Bühren, 2015). Not only the child is affected; T1D is a family disease (Williams, Laffel, & Hood, 2009), and parental reactions of stress (Cline, Schwartz, Axelrad, & Anderson, 2011), anxiety, and depression are common after diagnosis (Streisand et al, 2008). While most parents adapt well over time 3 (Lowes, Gregory, & Lyne, 2005), significant levels of distress (i.e., anxiety, depression, and parenting stress) may remain several years later (Whittemore, 2012).…”