Early Onset Diabetes: Parents' Views

Abstract

During 1990-91 postal questionnaires were sent to the parents of 309 children living in the United Kingdom who developed diabetes before the age of 2 years during 1972-1981. The aim of the survey was to explore how they had coped with their child's condition. Completed questionnaires were returned by 85% of parents. The children had a mean age of 14 (range 9-19) years and diabetes for a mean duration of 13 (range 9-18) years. The cohort's mean age for starting self-injection was reported to be 8 years and most of the children (82%) were still attending full-time education. Diabetes-related difficulties of school were reported for 34% (95% C I 28-40) of the children and 70 (27%, 95% C I 22-32) were estimated to have missed more schooldays than their peers. With increasing duration of diabetes, parents expressed a reduction in anxiety about practical aspects of management such as injections and monitoring, but concern about hypoglycaemia and long-term vascular complications remained high. Parents of girls were more likely to express worries compared to parents of boys, and this excess was significant for worry about diet (chi 2 1df = 17.021, p < 0.001). The paediatric diabetes team caring for early diagnosed children should be aware of the need to discuss the long-term implications of the disorder and be sensitive to the transition period when the child takes progressively more responsibility for self management and the parent's role diminishes.

Serious illness in childhood: the different threats of cancer and diabetes from a parent perspective

“…[16][17][18] Studies addressing the effect of time elapsed since the diabetes diagnosis on parental distress have, however, so far reached divergent results. [16][17][18][19][20] …”

“…[16][17][18] Studies addressing the effect of time elapsed since the diabetes diagnosis on parental distress have, however, so far reached divergent results. [16][17][18][19][20] The effect of disease type and of time passed since the child's diagnosis on parental distress was of particular interest in this study, in which the following questions were addressed: What amounts and kinds of disease-related distress are associated with parenting a child through serious and chronic illness? Do parents of children with cancer and diabetes differ from each other regarding level of experienced distress and regarding how subtypes of distress symptoms appear?…”

Developing a Scale to Measure Parental Worry and Their Attitudes Toward Childhood Cancer After Successful Completion of Treatment

“…Parker et al (1994) surveyed the parents of 309 children who were diagnosed with diabetes 10 years prior to the study. They reported that some aspects of daily diabetes management, such as blood and urine monitoring, become less stressful as time passed.…”

The relationship between parental perceptions of diabetes and glycaemic control

“…12 A survey of parents in the UK in 1994 found that the mean age for starting self-injection was 8 years. 13 However, a US study of 100 youths with diabetes indicated caution about encouraging maximal self-care autonomy and suggested that families who can succeed in maintaining some parental involvement in diabetes care may have better outcomes. 14 Similarly, a study of 89 youths with diabetes in Germany found continued parental monitoring to be beneficial for glycaemic control as long as a balance was found between medical adaptation to the illness and the child's developmental needs.…”