The Perspective of Young Adolescents with Diabetes about Caregivers’ Role in Breaking the News of their Diagnosis - Abstract
Background: Breaking bad news of a chronic disease that imposes limitations on lifestyle, such as diabetes, is a difficult task, even when the recipient is an adult, more
so when the recipient is a youth.
Objectives: To identify the caregivers’ role in delivering the diagnosis of diabetes, from the perspective of young adolescents diagnosed with diabetes.
Method: The study included 63 young adolescents diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Average age was 12.2 years. Patients filled out a 32 items questionnaire addressing three main subjects: who should deliver the diagnosis, what information should be presented, and what should be the supportive patterns used by the caregivers. The internal reliability of the questionnaire was a = 0.67 – 0.85.
Results: Young adolescents are primarily interested to know what they are allowed to eat, what treatment will they be given, why do they have diabetes, if the illness will pass away, who will help them cope with the illness and how will it affect their future. It was found that the most suitable subjects to deliver the diagnosis according to the young adolescent’s opinion were the doctor, the mother, and a medical clown. Amongst
the communication characteristics defined by them as most important were: telling the truth, clear language free from vague statements, and the use of normalization and
guilt removal statements.
Conclusions: Support administered to young adolescents with diabetes, which is focused on the concept that the illness does not prevent the continuation of normal life, may ease emotional distress and contribute to the acceptance of the illness, resulting with good compliance