Linking Caregiver Strain to Diabetes Illness Management and Health Outcomes in a Sample of Adolescents in Chronically Poor Metabolic Control
Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 05/15/2012
Carcone AI et al. – These findings suggest that caregiver strain is an important dimension of the caregiving context of diabetes. Clinicians and researchers should consider how caregiving strain, responsibility for illness management, and mental health symptoms might be impacting children's diabetes care behavior and diabetes health when working with and designing interventions for adolescents with diabetes.
Methods- One hundred forty-six caregiver-adolescent dyads completed baseline measures of caregiver strain, responsibility for diabetes care, social support, mental health symptoms, and illness management behavior.
- Adolescent metabolic control was also assessed.
- Findings from structural equation modeling suggested that caregiver strain was directly and positively associated with caregiver mental health symptoms which mediated the relationship to adolescent diabetes management behavior and metabolic control.
- Caregivers' responsibility for diabetes care tasks was directly related to caregiver strain and indirectly to caregiver mental health, but caregivers' perception of social support was not.
