Determining Impacted Status of Families with a Child Diagnosed with Type
1 Diabetes Mellitus of This Disease and Influencing Factors
Abstract
Objective This study aimed to determine the impacted status of families
with a child diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes Mellitus of this disease and
the influencing factors using the Diabetes Family Impact Scale (DFIS).
Material and Methods The population of our study, which is a descriptive
cross-sectional type, consists of the parents of 289 school-aged
children diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and followed for
at least one year in the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology of Sivas
Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine (SCUFM). The study
questionnaire was completed in a face-to-face interview with the parents
of 121 of the 289 children who volunteered to participate in the study.
The first 21 questions of the research questionnaire were related to
sociodemographic data, and the following 14 questions, which included
some characteristics of the disease, were related to the Diabetes Family
Impact Scale (DFIS). Results The mean DFIS scale score of the
participants was 14.6±10.8. In our study, the mean DFIS scale score and
the mean scores of the School and Work subscales were significantly
higher in families with a child who had a high mean HbA1c and had been
hospitalized for diabetes in the last 1 year. It was also found that the
DFIS scale score was significantly higher in low-income families than in
high-income families. While there was a negative correlation between the
DFIS scale score and the child’s age with type 1 DM, the mother’s age,
there was a positive correlation between the DFIS scale score and the
HBA1c values. Conclusion Our study is the first known study conducted in
our country using the DFIS scale. Its most important finding is the
increase in DFIS scale score in children with type 1 DM, who have high
HbA1c average and are younger.