Pre‐adolescent children's experiences of receiving diabetes‐related support from friends and peers: A qualitative study

Abstract

BackgroundWhile pre‐adolescent children with type 1 diabetes receive most support from their parents/caregivers, others also contribute to their care. This study explored pre‐adolescent children's experiences of receiving diabetes‐related support from friends and peers. The objective was to identify how children could be better supported by their friends and peers to undertake diabetes self‐management.MethodsIn‐depth interviews with 24 children (aged 9‐12 years) with type 1 diabetes. Data were analysed using an inductive, thematic approach.ResultsChildren gave mixed accounts of their experiences of speaking to their school/class about diabetes with some indicating that this had resulted in unwanted attention. Most individuals reported that other children had a limited understanding of diabetes and sometimes acted in insensitive ways or said things they found upsetting. Virtually all children described having a small number of close friends who were interested in learning about diabetes and provided them with support. These friends provided support in three overlapping ways, as “monitors and prompters,” “helpers” and “normalizers.” While some children described benefiting from meeting peers with type 1 diabetes, most indicated that they would prefer to develop friendships based on shared interests rather than a common disease status.Discussion and conclusionsFriends and peers provide several kinds of support to pre‐adolescent children with diabetes. Health professionals could consider ways to assist small friendship groups to undertake monitoring and prompting, helping and normalizing roles. Parents, schools and health professionals could explore ways to normalize self‐management practices to better support children with diabetes in school settings.

Children and young people’s experiences and perceptions of self-management of type 1 diabetes: A qualitative meta-synthesis

“…Self-management of T1D for CYPDs also occurs in the context of others’ (in addition to parents) involvement and in the presence of others. Friends (Babler and Strickland, 2016; Boman et al, 2015; Burke and Dowling, 2007; Carroll and Marrero, 2006; Christian et al, 1999; Cosma and Baban, 2015; Damião and Pinto, 2007; Dickinson and O’Reilly, 2004; Herrman, 2006; Huus and Enskar, 2007; Karlsson et al, 2008; Kupper et al, 2018; Kyngas et al, 1998; Kyngas and Hentinen, 1995; Maslakpak et al., 2010; Rankin et al, 2018; Serlachius et al, 2012; Standiford et al, 1997), extended family (Boman et al, 2015; Burke and Dowling, 2007; Christian et al, 1999; Cosma and Baban, 2015; Hanna and Guthrie, 2001; Herrman, 2006; Leonard et al, 2005; Maslakpak et al, 2010; Standiford et al, 1997), teachers (Burke and Dowling, 2007; Carroll and Marrero, 2006; Christian et al., 1999; Cosma and Baban, 2015; Dickinson and O’Reilly, 2004; Herrman, 2006; Maslakpak et al, 2010; Ryninks et al, 2015; Sullivan-Bolyai et al, 2014; Wang et al, 2013) and HCPs (Boman et al, 2015; Carroll and Marrero, 2006; Christian et al, 1999; Dickinson and O’Reilly, 2004; Karlsson et al, 2008; Kyngas and Barlow, 1995; Kyngas et al, 1998; Kyngas and Hentinen, 1995; Meldman, 1987; Standiford et al, 1997; Sullivan-Bolyai et al., 2014; Viklund ...…”

“…CYPDs may struggle to explain T1D to peers who may not have any prior T1D knowledge (Peters et al., 2014). When peers lack knowledge or question the CYPDs, this can contribute to frustration felt towards T1D (Carroll and Marrero, 2006; Leach and Erickson, 1988; Rankin et al, 2018). Therefore, appropriate support and involvement of others may contribute to CYPDs’ engagement of self-management through the creation of supportive settings in which self-management can occur.…”

The role of theories in interventions targeting preteens with Type 1 diabetes: A critical literature review

“…The notion of health practices challenges the assumption that health is a direct outcome of mental processes and implies that it emerges from interactions between individuals, as well as social and material factors. Rankin et al (, 2018) find that preteens altered their care practices across family and school settings and that they disliked how diabetes distinguishes them from others, causing unwanted attention (Rankin et al, ; Rankin, Harden, Jepson, & Lawton, ). These findings highlight the importance of social practices in shaping diabetes care and suggest the relevance of applying a broad conceptualization of preteens' social relations, which is not limited to their relationships with parents.…”

The impact of active research involvement of young children in the design of a new stereotest

“…Our study provides a contribution to an evidence pool of involvement of children and young people in research. With typical sample sizes of 5-20 children or young people [16][17][18], our sample of 233 people (of which 165 were under 12) is a step forward in hearing a wide range of opinions. To our knowledge, our study is the first to involve children as young as 1 year old.…”