Brief Report: Glycemic Control, Quality of Life, and School Experiences Among Students with Diabetes

Abstract

Students with diabetes continue to face challenges at school. Training staff and classmates and allowing students the maximum appropriate flexibility in diabetes care appears beneficial for disease control and QOL.

Diabetes mellitus tipo 1: evidências da literatura para seu manejo adequado, na perspectiva de crianças

“…Despite these difficulties, glucose and diet control are responsibilities which children in the age range from 8 to 11 years should gradually start to assume, first sharing them with their parents and, over time, under the children's own supervision (17) . To start this responsibility process, having someone to remind the children to perform capillary glucose monitoring (18) and insulin application (17) , to discuss what would be good or not to avoid glucose variations, and also regarding sweets received at school, helps them to manage the illness, thus achieving a good glucose profile (13,19) . In this phase, the children see the maintenance of glucose test results within normal limits as a positive factor.…”

“…Friends and health professionals were also reminded as factors interfering in disease management, offering emotional support and other types of help on different occasions (12,(15)(16)19) . Friends' companionship, offering moments of fun and relaxation, makes the children feel accepted in their condition, collaborating towards successful disease management (12,(15)(16)19) .…”

“…Friends' companionship, offering moments of fun and relaxation, makes the children feel accepted in their condition, collaborating towards successful disease management (12,(15)(16)19) . They particularly emphasized the presence of a friend who knows about their disease and is able to acknowledge bad times; immediately performing care when necessary, warning close relatives and supporting the children to seek help (15)(16) .…”

“…Professionals were mentioned because of their actions, valuing and supporting the children in the hospital environment (11,20,25) , at Basic Health Units (21) , during clinical follow-up (15) , in education programs (26)(27) , research (14) and at school (19,28) . In all of these cases, the professionals' actions directly interfere in the children's experience, mitigating their fears and anxieties, performing educative actions, increasing knowledge on diabetes and the children's needs (11) and intensifying self-care (21) and the expression of their experiences, emotions and feelings (26)(27) .…”

“…For many children, the school structure revealed lack of preparation to help them with some self-care actions. Private rooms are missing for insulin administration, which is often performed at inappropriate and tight places, such as the children's bathroom (16) , which can impair metabolic control results (19) . Offering an adequate place for the children to store the materials they need for self-care (19) , with easy access in case of need, was an important aspect these children reported (16) .…”