The Impacts of Diabetes on Families with a Child Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Influencing Factors

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to determine the impacts of diabetes on families with a child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and influencing factors using the Diabetes Family Impact Scale (DFIS).
METHODS: The population of our study, which is a descriptive cross-sectional type, consists of the parents of 289 school-aged children diagnosed with Type 1 DM and followed for at least one year in the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology of Sivas Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine. The study questionnaire was completed in a face-to-face interview with the parents of 121 of the 289 children who volunteered to participate in the study. The first 21 questions of the research questionnaire were related to sociodemographic data, and the following 14 questions, which included some characteristics of the disease, were related to DFIS.
RESULTS: The mean DFIS scale score of the participants was 14.60±10.82. In our study, the mean DFIS scale score and the mean scores of the School and Work subscales were significantly higher in families with a child who had a high mean HbA1c and had been hospitalized for diabetes in the last year. It was also found that the DFIS scale score was significantly higher in low-income families than in high-income families. While there was a negative correlation between the DFIS scale score and the child's age with Type 1 DM, and the mother's age, there was a positive correlation between the DFIS scale score and the HBA1c values.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The impact of Type 1 DM on families is widespread and multifactorial. In our study, as the diabetic control deteriorates and the age of the child decreases, the level of influence of the families in different aspects increases.