Understanding the developmental and psychological needs of young people with diabetes

Abstract

Throughout adolescence, young people are going through a period of rapid biopsychosocial change when the developmental demands (‘tasks’) of childhood (e.g. sustaining friendships and achieving academic success) are continuing, tasks of adolescence (e.g. developing the sense of self and acquiring autonomy) are central and certain tasks of adulthood (e.g. focusing on career, intimate relationships and future health) are emerging. Young people with diabetes are also coping with the demands of their condition, managing the change from paediatric to adult services and may have additional psychological difficulties associated with diabetes. In addition, ongoing life‐events and daily hassles continue during this period. The developmental tasks of adolescence and young adulthood are described. A brief overview of recent research into the impact of diabetes upon adolescent development and the specific psychological difficulties associated with diabetes is provided. It is suggested that young people with diabetes experience a sense of difference and constancy to do with their condition. An increased prevalence of ‘sub‐clinical’ eating problems and likelihood of depression could also be apparent in this population. Young people's suggestions for providing developmentally‐appropriate services are outlined and implications for service delivery are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Isolation, motivation and balance: living with type 1 or cystic fibrosis‐related diabetes

“…People with CFRD may have been protected from experiencing this as such a burden because their diabetes management was integrated into an established treatment package, provided by a familiar and trusted team within a CF Unit. They also did not report the same sense of separation from their peers because of having diabetes that some of those diagnosed with T1DM recalled (Doherty & Dovey‐Pearce 2005), perhaps because they tended to develop this condition in early adulthood (whereas a number of those with T1DM had a childhood or teenage onset) and had already dealt with feeling different to their friends while growing up with CF (Berge et al. 2007).…”

Anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents suffering from diabetes mellitus

“…Young adults suffering from DM tend to evaluate negatively their competence regarding self-care 28 .…”

“…Various experiences, such as negative evaluation and self-feedback could create a negative feedback loop, which increases the likelihood of anxiety and depressive disorders in DM 28 . Negative interpretation of events and self-competence could therefore lead to mental health problems.…”

“…Adolescence is a turbulent developmental phase, with development tasks such as growing autonomy and independency 28 . It is the same with DM maintenance and the independence the child gradually grows in health behaviours themselves.…”

Development and psychometric testing of the online Adolescent Diabetes Needs Assessment Tool (ADNAT)

“…). The question this raises, however, is how to engage young people with the management of their diabetes at a time when their developmental needs can often work against such engagement (Doherty & Dovey‐Pearce ), as evidenced by numerous reports (Mortensen & Hougaard , Du Pasquier‐Fediaevsk et al . , DH/Payment by Results team , Guo et al .…”