Predictors of mood, diabetes‐specific and COVID ‐19‐specific experiences among parents of early school‐age children with type 1 diabetes during initial months of the COVID ‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective The current study explored pre‐pandemic sociodemographics, medical characteristics, social/family support, and mood symptoms, and current COVID‐19 experiences as predictors of mood, positive/negative diabetes‐specific experiences, and COVID‐19‐specific distress among parents of children with type 1 diabetes during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We hypothesized that parents from marginalized backgrounds, youth with higher pre‐pandemic A1c and no CGM use, parents with lower pre‐pandemic social/family support and more pre‐pandemic mood/anxiety symptoms, and those with more negative COVID‐19 experiences would have more depressive symptoms, fewer positive and more negative diabetes‐specific experiences, and more COVID‐19‐specific distress during the initial months of the pandemic. Research Design and Methods Participants were parents of early school‐age children with type 1 diabetes (n = 100; 65% non‐Hispanic, white, 92% mothers, 75% married; Mchild age = 6.74 ± 1.59 years) who had completed a behavioral intervention trial ≥6 months ago and were re‐contacted in June/July 2020 to report on their COVID‐19 pandemic experiences and parent psychosocial outcomes. Pre‐pandemic parent mood/anxiety symptoms, family/social support, and children's medical characteristics (CGM use; MA1C = 8.17% ± 1.40%) were assessed M = 1.45 ± 0.59 years prior. Results More pre‐pandemic social support predicted fewer depressive symptoms, more positive diabetes‐specific experiences, and less COVID‐19‐specific distress during the pandemic. More pre‐pandemic depressive symptoms predicted more depressive symptoms during the pandemic. More life disruptions due to the pandemic were associated with more negative diabetes‐specific experiences and more COVID‐19‐specific distress. Parents of color had more negative diabetes‐specific experiences. Conclusions Social support may be particularly important to assess and address through intervention. Pediatric diabetes care providers should monitor parent experiences in relation to children's diabetes management. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02527525.

A Pandemic Perspective: Analyzing the Impact of COVID-19 on Diabetes Management and Mood Through the Lens of Location and Family Conflict

“…Items include questions about changes in diabetes management, mood, living situations during the pandemic, and the extent to which people in and around the family have come into contact with the COVID-19 virus. A team of pediatric psychologists developed the COVID-19 survey for use in ongoing studies, 6,15 and sample questions include “In what ways has COVID-19 impacted your T1DM management?” and “Overall, how worried or anxious has YOUR CHILD been about the COVID-19 pandemic?” In the current analyses, the Impact on Diabetes Management (parent/teen report) subscale and Impact on Mood (parent/teen report) subscale were used. Questions on the diabetes management and mood subscales are scaled on a 5-point Likert scale and summed, with higher scores indicating a greater impact of COVID-19 on diabetes management and teen mood.…”

“…Items include questions about changes in diabetes management, mood, living situations during the pandemic, and the extent to which people in and around the family have come into contact with the COVID-19 virus. A team of pediatric psychologists developed the COVID-19 survey for use in ongoing studies, 6,15 and sample questions include "In what ways has COVID-19 impacted your T1DM management?" and "Overall, how worried or anxious has YOUR CHILD been about the COVID-19 pandemic?"…”

Does Oxidative Stress Management Help Alleviation of COVID-19 Symptoms in Patients Experiencing Diabetes?

“…Noticeably, the odds ratio for the severity of Type-1 diabetic patients were much higher than Type-2 diabetic patients [25]. Another RCT with children with Type-1 diabetes in the US suggested that preintervention and social support improved the children to manage COVID-19 pandemic-related stress and depressive symptoms for the children and their parents [26].…”

Young Children with Type 1 Diabetes: Recent Advances in Behavioral Research

“…Recently, studies have described the experience of managing diabetes in children during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 78 – 80 ]. Our team followed a cohort of parents of children ( n = 100) who were diagnosed with T1D at a young age (1–6 years, pre-pandemic) who had completed a behavioral trial more than 6 months prior (enrolled between 2015–2019), and obtained data for 2 additional follow-up times points during the pandemic (Summer 2020, Winter 2021 [ 81 ]). During Summer, 2020, parents of children with T1D (M age = 6.74 years) who reported experiencing more pandemic-related life disruptions during the initial months of the pandemic also reported more negative diabetes-specific experiences as well as COVID-19-specific distress.…”

“…During Summer, 2020, parents of children with T1D (M age = 6.74 years) who reported experiencing more pandemic-related life disruptions during the initial months of the pandemic also reported more negative diabetes-specific experiences as well as COVID-19-specific distress. Further, parents of young children with T1D who had higher social support pre-pandemic reported fewer depressive symptoms during Summer, 2020 [ 81 ].…”