Online assessment of problem-solving skills among fathers of young and school-age children with type 1 diabetes: Associations with parent and child outcomes

Abstract

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a pediatric chronic illness that is associated with significant parenting stress due to its lifelong course, burdensome disease management, and life-threatening complications. Although mothers of children with T1D have been studied extensively in relation to parenting stress, coping, and diabetes outcomes, there is a need to examine similar variables among fathers. The aim of the present study was to examine if fathers’ use of problem-solving skills was related to parenting stress and diabetes regimen adherence and if problem-solving skills moderated the associations between paternal involvement in diabetes care and parenting stress in a national online sample of 215 fathers of children with T1D. Self-report measures completed by fathers through Qualtrics included a demographic and disease-related questionnaire, the Social Problem-Solving Inventory—Revised; Parenting Stress Index—Fourth Edition, Short Form; Pediatric Inventory for Parents; Dads’ Active Disease Support Scale; and Self-Care Inventory—Revised. Pearson correlations were computed to assess associations among study variables. Four separate multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the interactive effects of problem-solving skills and paternal involvement on parenting stress. Analyses revealed a large positive correlation between problem-solving skills and general parenting stress ( r = .63), and a large negative correlation between problem-solving skills and pediatric parenting stress ( r = −.52). The interaction between problem-solving skills and father involvement accounted for a significant amount of variance in a general parenting stress subscale ( p < .01) and pediatric parenting stress ( p < .05). These results highlight the importance of problem-solving skills for father outcomes in the context of T1D while implicating the potential benefit of a problem-solving intervention for this population.

Parental marital relationship satisfaction is associated with glycemic outcomes in children with type 1 diabetes

“…Our findings additionally showed an association between higher HbA1c and lower household income in univariate analysis, which is consistent with prior research [58,59]. Last, in the bivariate associations, lower paternal education level was linked with higher HbA1c, which is consistent with research suggesting that both parental education and the father's engagement and problem-solving ability in diabetes management are beneficial for children with type 1 diabetes [7,[60][61][62].…”

The Pediatric Inventory for Parents: Development of a short‐form in fathers of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D)

“…Participants were 344 North American fathers of children ages 2–10 years with type 1 diabetes (T1D). These participants were taken from two previous studies that investigated parenting stress and coping skills in fathers of children with T1D (Teasdale & Limbers, 2018, Teasdale & Limbers, n.d.). Table 1 provides demographic information for the fathers and children in the current sample.…”

“…A detailed description of the study procedures can be found in the two previous studies the sample was taken from (Teasdale & Limbers, 2018, Teasdale & Limbers, n.d.). Inclusion criteria for the present study included being English literate, 18 years or older, and a father with a child 2–10 years old diagnosed with T1D by a physician (who resided at least 50% of the week with the father).…”