Diabetes-specific functioning in parents of young children with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes.

Objective: A Type 1 diabetes (T1D) diagnosis in young children can cause significant family stress. Parents may experience increased depressive symptoms, but less is known about early diabetes-specific functioning (i.e., parental self-efficacy to manage diabetes, hypoglycemia fear, and coparenting conflict). We evaluated a theoretically based model of diabetes-specific functioning among parents of young children newly diagnosed with T1D (YC-T1D). The model included parent demographic variables, child illness-factors, family protective factors, and general parent emotional functioning.

Method: One hundred fifty-seven newly diagnosed YC-T1D ( = 4.4 ± 1.7 years; days postdiagnosis = 29.0 ± 15.4) and their primary caregivers (91.7% female; 61% non-Hispanic White) were assessed at baseline of a behavioral intervention randomized controlled trial. We used psychosocial measures to explore hypothesized domains associated with parents' diabetes-specific functioning using structural equation modeling.

Results: More difficulties with parent emotional functioning were related to more problems with parent diabetes-specific functioning, and higher family protective factors were related to fewer problems with diabetes-specific functioning. Child-illness factors were also directly related to more difficulties with parent diabetes-specific functioning and emotional functioning. Parents with college education reported more difficulties with emotional functioning and parent diabetes-specific functioning. Younger child age was associated with fewer difficulties with emotional functioning and more family protective factors.

Conclusions: Results provide initial support for a model of parent diabetes specific-functioning at young child T1D diagnosis. Future research may examine this model in relation to children's glycemic outcomes over the first year after diagnosis. Implications are made for parent screening at the time of YC-T1D diagnosis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).