Nieuwesteeg AM, Hartman EE, Aanstoot HJ, van Bakel HJ, Emons WH, van Mil E, Pouwer F.

The relationship between parenting stress and parent-child interaction with health outcomes in the youngest patients with type 1 diabetes (0-7 years). Eur J Pediatr. 2016;175:329-38.

Parenting stress and parent-child interactions can be associated with negative health outcomes in very young children with type 1 diabetes, according to the results of this investigation.

 

The study involved analysis of videos of 77 families with a young child (up to 7 years old) with type 1 diabetes, taken during mealtime and including glucose monitoring and insulin administration. Parent-child interactions were scored, and questionnaires were used to measure general parenting stress, disease-related parenting stress, and diabetes-specific quality of life.

 

Key findings:

• Both general and disease-related parenting stress were significantly associated with a lower disease-specific quality of life, although there was no significant association with HbA1c levels.
• In terms of the parent-child interactions, the emotional involvement of parents and the expressed discomfort of the child were both significantly related to suboptimal HbA1c levels.
• Overall, there was no clear pattern in the associations between parent-child interactions and disease-specific quality of life.

 

The researchers said the study results… 

They concluded that it is important for healthcare providers to focus not only on the child with type 1 diabetes, but also on the family as a whole.

 

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