Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #197542

Title: QUALITY OF LIFE, FAMILY BEHAVIOR, AND HEALTH OUTCOMES IN CHILDREN WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES

Author
item ANDERSON, BARBARA - BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MED
item Cullen, Karen
item MCKAY, SIRIPOOM - BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MED

Submitted to: Pediatric Annals
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/1/2005
Publication Date: 9/1/2005
Citation: Anderson, B.J., Cullen, K., McKay, S. 2005. Quality of life, family behavior, and health outcomes in children with Type 2 diabetes. Pediatric Annals. 34(9):722-729.

Interpretive Summary: Quality of life of youth and how families deal with chronic diseases are important factors in health outcomes. Very few studies have addressed these issues in youth with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). In order to examine the relationship between metabolic control in youth with T2DM and parental involvement in diabetes management, we tested a questionnaire on Diabetes Family Responsibility (DRFQ) with youth with T2DM. We studied 75 youth with T2DM and a parent of each child who completed the DRFQ. The same two 7-item factors for both youth and parents were obtained from statistical analysis. The Factor One related to diabetes care tasks that were carried out at home (Managing Diabetes Regimen Tasks at Home), and the Factor Two (Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Actions) related to a proactive approach to diabetes management and to supporting diabetes care outside of the home. Thirty-nine youth were in Acceptable diabetes control and 36 youth were in Unacceptable diabetes control. We compared the DRFQ scores for parents and for youth according to the youth’s diabetes control status. For parents, significant differences were found only for the Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Actions Subscale, with parents of youth in Unacceptable control reporting that their children took more responsibility for the more social and proactive diabetes care actions than did the parents of youth in Acceptable control. Similarly, comparisons of the scores for youth according to their diabetes control status indicated significant differences only for the Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Actions Subscale, with youth in Unacceptable control reporting that they had less parent involvement in social and proactive diabetes care actions than did youth in Acceptable control. These results suggest that in families where parents are more involved with their child's diabetes care, the child's diabetes is in better control.

Technical Abstract: Quality of life of youth and disease-specific family behavior have both been shown to be important in the study of health outcomes across a broad range of chronic physical conditions of childhood. Very few studies have addressed quality of life, the family’s role in diabetes management, and health outcomes in youth with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). In order to examine the relationship between metabolic control in youth with T2DM and parental involvement in diabetes management, we adapted the Diabetes Family Responsibility Questionnaire (DRFQ), which had been designed and validated for T1DM, to address treatment issues specific to youth with T2DM. We studied 75 youth with T2DM and a parent who completed the DRFQ. The same two 7-item factors for both youth and parents were obtained from principle components factor analysis. The items on Factor One related to diabetes regimen tasks that were carried out at home (Managing Diabetes Regimen Tasks at Home), and the items on Factor Two (Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Actions) related to a proactive approach to diabetes management and to supporting diabetes care outside of the home. Thirty-nine youth were in Acceptable glycemic control (with an Alc <8%) and 36 youth were in Unacceptable glycemic control (with an Alc = or >8%). We compared the mean DRFQ-T2 Total scale score and Subscale scores for parents and for youth according to the youth’s glycemic control status. For parents, significant differences were found only for the Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Actions Subscale, with parents of youth in Unacceptable control reporting that their children took more responsibility for the more social and proactive diabetes care actions than did the parents of youth in Acceptable control. Similarly, comparisons of the mean scores on the subscales and total scale for youth according to their glycemic control status indicated significant differences only for the Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Actions Subscale, with youth in Unacceptable control reporting that they had less parent involvement in social and proactive diabetes care actions than did youth in Acceptable control. These results suggest that youth in Acceptable control as well as their mothers, reported that mothers took significantly more responsibility for Social and Proactive Diabetes Care Activities as compared to youth in Unacceptable control.