Peer Coaching Interventions for Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Purpose of review Peer support is a promising model of providing psychosocial support to parents of children with type 1 diabetes. This review seeks to discuss the findings of the existing literature in peer coaching as it relates to parents and diabetes as well as to identify gaps in knowledge for future intervention development and implementation. Recent findings Peer support programs vary widely with regard to recruitment, training, and delivery protocols. Across most programs, ongoing support and supervision is provided to peer coaches. Despite inconsistent effects on psychosocial and child health outcomes, parent coaching is consistently a highly acceptable and feasible intervention with parents of children with T1D. Current evidence supports use of parent coaching as part of a multicomponent intervention or program to increase patient satisfaction, but more research is needed to determine if it can stand alone as an active mechanism for behavior change. Summary The use of peer coach interventions for parents of young children with diabetes is feasible to implement and highly acceptable. However, more research is needed to understand the enduring impact for target parents and peer coaches alike, as well as impact on child outcomes.

“I'm essentially his pancreas”: Parent perceptions of diabetes burden and opportunities to reduce burden in the care of children <8 years old with type 1 diabetes

“…Educational and psychosocial interventions that address common parent‐reported burdens may help parents to better manage their stresses and model positive attitudes towards diabetes for their children . For example, our results suggest that an effective intervention should equip parents with realistic expectations about glucose variability in young children, provide comprehensive continuous education in new technologies and overall diabetes care, and train parents in how to explain diabetes treatment to other caregivers and adults in their child's life.…”

Parenting Intervention to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity for Preschoolers with Type 1 Diabetes: A Feasibility Study

“…Parent coaches were nominated by diabetes clinical providers and screened by the study team for availability and ability to provide support to other families. Three parent coaches ( M ± SD = 45 ± 9.16 years), 100% married, 100% non-Hispanic White, M ± SD age of child at diagnosis = 1.33 ± 0.58 years, M ± SD current age child = 10.33 ± 3.51 years), were recruited and trained (for full details, see Tully et al, 2017).…”

#CleftProud

“…The results of this study add further insight to the previous social media study by Khouri and McCheyne (2018), as well as contributing to the wider body of research relating to the value of peer support in the context of health conditions. Literature in the fields of mental health, disability, chronic illness, and other craniofacial conditions have demonstrated the psychological benefits of both receiving and providing peer support via telecommunication (Lauckner and Hutchinson, 2016), peer-led self-help groups (Mahlke et al, 2014), mentoring programs (Tully et al, 2017), therapeutic residential weekends (Tiemens et al, 2006), and support conferences (Bogart and Hemmesch, 2016). The potentially positive impact of sharing experiences with others in a similar situation has also been highlighted in both quantitative and qualitative studies on CL/P specifically (eg, Douglas, 2012; Stock et al, 2016).…”