Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine parents’ perceptions of the role children play in their type 1 diabetes (T1DM) care. Family members are a resource to support T1DM self-management, but how children are involved in their parents’ diabetes has not been well explored.

Methods

Parents with T1DM (n = 85) and a subset of their romantic partners (n = 55) participated in interviews during which they described their children’s knowledge of and involvement in diabetes care. Interviews were transcribed, responses coded/tallied, and themes identified.

Results

All parents reported that children knew of their diabetes, which they learned about progressively from a young age. Most parents reported children to be accepting and understanding of the ways that diabetes affected their family experiences (eg, pause to treat low blood glucose). When asked about specific support, parents rated “making parent feel better about diabetes” as the most frequently occurring behavior. Some parents felt that children, particularly younger ones, occasionally detracted from T1DM management, but this was usually expected and considered transient. Regardless of child age, many parents did not want diabetes to burden children and limited their involvement. Both parents with T1DM and partners requested resources to enhance child awareness and preparedness to support diabetes. Respondents, particularly partners, were also interested in learning how to communicate better as a family and share perspectives on how diabetes affects individual family members.

Conclusions

Diabetes care and education specialists should consider developmentally and relationally appropriate ways to engage children of parents with T1DM in education and self-management.

中文翻译：

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1型糖尿病父母的观点：孩子在自我管理和支持中的作用

目的

这项研究的目的是检验父母对孩子在1型糖尿病（T1DM）护理中所起的作用的看法。家庭成员是支持T1DM自我管理的资源，但是尚未充分探讨儿童如何参与父母的糖尿病。

方法

患有T1DM的父母（n = 85）和他们的一些浪漫伴侣（n = 55）参加了访谈，在访谈中他们描述了孩子对糖尿病护理的了解和参与。记录访谈内容，对回答进行编码/统计，并确定主题。

结果

所有父母都报告说，孩子们知道自己的糖尿病，他们从小就逐渐了解糖尿病。大多数父母报告说，孩子们正在接受并了解糖尿病影响家庭经历的方式（例如，暂停治疗低血糖）。当被问及具体支持时，父母将“使父母对糖尿病感觉更好”列为最常发生的行为。一些父母认为孩子，特别是年幼的孩子，偶尔会受到T1DM管理的影响，但这通常是预料之中的，被认为是暂时的。无论孩子年龄多大，许多父母都不希望糖尿病给孩子增加负担并限制他们的参与。患有T1DM的父母和合作伙伴都要求提供资源，以提高儿童对糖尿病的认识和准备。受访者，尤其是合作伙伴，

结论

糖尿病护理和教育专家应考虑发展和相关的适当方法，以使患有T1DM的父母的子女参与教育和自我管理。