The effects of self-care training on the self-concept, self-care behavior, and metabolic control of diabetic children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of self-care training on the self-concept, self-care behavior, and metabolic control of diabetic children. The author hoped to obtain information to help improve training programs for children with diabetes.;Forty-nine diabetic children, ages eight to 13, participated in the study as they received basic self-care training from their physicians. Twenty-seven of the children also attended a week long summer day camp where they received additional instruction in diabetes self-care.;The subjects completed the Self-Perception Profile for Children and the Self-Care Questionnaire two times at a four month interval to measure their self-concept and the self-care behaviors. Two routine blood sample tests were used to measure their glycated hemoglobin for metabolic control levels.;It was hypothesized that after training, and compared with the control group, the children who attended the camp would (1) have better self-concepts, (2) perform more self-care behaviors, and (3) show improved metabolic control. The author also hypothesized that children who began the study with better self-concepts would improve more. The data analyses failed, however, to support those hypotheses.;All the children initially registered positive self-concepts, performed many self-care behaviors, and showed fair to good metabolic control. The experimental group demonstrated no significant improvements when evaluated after training. It was concluded, therefore, that the additional self-care training did not affect the self-concept, self-care behavior, or metabolic control of the children, regardless of their initial self-concept level. Total number of children and family size, however, were predictors of metabolic control for all subjects.;Further research is needed with children from more diverse backgrounds who have varying levels of self-concept, self-care performance, and metabolic control. Research to identify the factors that do affect diabetic children\u27s self-concept, self-care performance, and metabolic control also is necessary, as is investigation of different types of training programs