Supporting parents of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a literature review

Figures & data

Table 1 A sample of interventions from the empirical literature on family support for patients with T1DM

Comments	Intervention type/outline	Source
Relationship quality and effective communication, problem solving associated with better adherence to care	Mothers and their TIDM daughters discussed emotional issues, conflicts, and concerns based on structured tools	Bobrow et al^Citation68
MF group interventions with simulations were found to be most effective, even at 6-month follow-up	MF group format for intervention with families of TIDM young patients. Discussions and simulations were included in three different conditions	Satin et al^Citation69
Showed an association between intervention and better compliance with treatment regimen and diabetes outcomes	A brief family-based behavioral therapy program for diabetic adolescents/training in parent-teen communication skills, problem solving, and specific goal-setting with behavioral contracts was used to improve selected aspects of regimen adherence	Delamater et al^Citation70
Study showed lower chance of deterioration in diabetes-management indices in the intervention group	Low-intensity intervention program aimed at improving teamwork and collaboration in the family around care routines of patients	Anderson et al^Citation64
Results showed improvement in family relations indices but not physical indices of diabetes control	Behavioral family systems therapy, focusing on communication styles. Teamwork within the family	Wysocki et al^Citation59
Preliminary evidence suggests change in attitude and involvement in support of care from peers	Group intervention program aimed at TIDM teens and their best friends (peers), increasing knowledge and shaping attitudes toward the condition and its care	Greco et al^Citation71
Results supported lower rates of deterioration in the intervention group across time	Ambulatory intervention for young patients and their family to reduce conflict around diabetes management, and in-family teamwork	Laffel et al^Citation65
Therapy group has lower rates of glycemic events and hospitalizations	MST, an intensive home-based psychotherapy, aimed to reduce hospital admissions for children with diabetes	Ellis et al^Citation72
Pre-post measures show increased knowledge and involvement in diabetes management in families	Multicultural and multilingual (Spanish) educational support for families of adolescents with diabetes living on the Mexico border in the US	Teufel-Shone et al^Citation73
Found effective mainly for preadolescents	Behavioral interventions where parents learned to shape health-supporting behavior of their children	Carr^Citation74
Reduced stress, slightly better compliance with care	Psycho-educational programs for adolescents with newly discovered TIDM, with their families	Carr^Citation74
Equivocal outcomes	Social-support intervention with parents of children < 13 years old newly diagnosed with TIDM, via home visits and telephone	Sullivan-Bolyai et al^Citation75
Evidence suggests increase in efficacy measures in a pre-post measure	An online platform to increase knowledge, self-efficacy of parents caring for TIDM children	Merkel and wright^Citation60
Pilot results are limited but promising	Motivational interviewing combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy to increase motivations to engage in effective diabetes management	Stanger et al^Citation76
Only a preliminary feasibility study supports the potential of the intervention	SMART: a text-messaging-based intervention program. Teenagers texted their HbAk, blood sugar level, and nutrition over the 6-week intervention program	Herbert et al^Citation77
Both the coping skills and the educational groups reported improvement, but no group differences were found	Coping skills training compared with educational interventions with parents of Children with TIDM. Intervention aims at increasing self-efficacy and hence reduce care-related stress	Grey et al^Citation78

Abbreviations: T1DM, type 1 diabetes mellitus; MF, multifamily; MST, multisystemic therapy; SMART, Self-Management and Research Technology.

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