Parents of Children With Diabetes: Is There a Relationship Between the Illness Representations of Parents of Diabetic Children and the Family Management of Diabetes?

Objectives: To examine parents’ beliefs about diabetes, using Leventhal, Nerenz and Steele’s (1984) concept of illness representation, and the relationship between those beliefs and their diabetic child’s adherence to the diabetes regimen. Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire study assessing parental beliefs and reports of their children’s diabetes-related behaviours. Setting: Three paediatric diabetes clinics in the South-east of England. Participants: Parents (n = 86) of children aged over 4 years who had been diagnosed for more than three months and were without concurrent serious illness or learning disability. Measures: The main outcome measures were the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQR) (Moss-Morris, Weinman, Petrie, Home, Cameron & Buick, 2002) for assessment of parents’ illness representations; and the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) (Toobert, Hampson & Glasgow, 2000) for assessment of adherence. Physiological measures of diabetes control and nurse ratings of diabetes management were also included. Results: Some of the parents’ beliefs about diabetes related to children’s adherence to some of the lifestyle aspects of the diabetes regimen. However, the results were not in line with previous research on illness representations in diabetes. Conclusions: Overall, adherence and metabolic control amongst the sample was very high and the limitations of the research are considered but also the possibility that this represents the success of the multi-disciplinary teams. As the results were anomalous to previous research several implications for future research are made