Development and Validation of a Measure Assessing Child Diabetes Behavior: The Diabetes Behavior Checklist

ABSTRACT

Previous research in pediatric diabetes management has focused on general child behavior, which is linked with treatment adherence and health outcomes in children with type 1 diabetes. Little is known about child diabetes behavior problems specifically. The current study aimed to develop and validate a measure of diabetes-specific child behavior problems, and parents’ confidence in managing these behaviors. Participants were a community sample of 186 parents of children aged 2–10 years with type 1 diabetes, recruited via online parenting forums and advertisements placed in school and childcare newsletters throughout Australia. The measure demonstrated excellent internal consistency and evidence of construct validity, and factor analyses revealed a 3-factor and a 1-factor structure for the Extent and Confidence scales, respectively. This study provides preliminary evidence of validity of the Diabetes Behavior Checklist. The implications of these findings for intervention development are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Child behavior
• chronic disease
• parental confidence
• parenting
• self-efficacy
• type 1 diabetes

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the parents who participated in this study.

Declaration of Interest

The Parenting and Family Support Centre is partly funded by royalties stemming from published resources of the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program, which is developed and owned by The University of Queensland (UQ). Royalties are also distributed to the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences at UQ and contributory authors of published Triple P resources. Triple P International (TPI) Pty Ltd is a private company licensed by UQ, to publish and disseminate Triple P worldwide. The authors of this report have no share or ownership of TPI. Dr. Morawska has received royalties from TPI. TPI had no involvement in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of data, or writing of this report. Drs. Morawska, Mitchell, and Lohan are employees at UQ. Dr. Aditi Lohan completed her PhD at UQ.

Funding

This study was supported by Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects scheme (Project ID: DP140100781). ARC had no involvement in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, or writing of this report.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects scheme (Project ID: DP140100781). ARC had no involvement in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, or writing of this report.