ESPE Abstracts

Background: Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. Parents of children with type 1 diabetes are significantly involved in the treatment, rendering them vulnerable to parental stress. Psychological difficulties experienced by the parents may have adverse effects on disease management and the child's psychological and somatic health.

Objectives: To assess parental stress and factors influencing it in a cohort of parents of children with type 1 diabetes.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study. The parents of children attending the diabetes clinic were asked to fill PIP- Pediatric Inventory for Parents and a sociodemographic questionnaire during a routine visit. Background information was withdrawn from the patients' files. Higher PIP scores indicate more parental distress.

Results: The cohort included 86 parents, with a mean age of 42.3 years, 74.4% mothers, 95.4% married, and 52.5 % with academic education. The diabetic children's mean age was 11.7 years with a mean diabetes duration of 3 years. Children treated with insulin pumps had lower scores on all PIP subclasses with statistical significance in some of the subclasses. Some PIP subclass scores were significantly higher in younger patients and patients diagnosed at a younger age. Parents from the Orthodox Jewish community and parents with academic education had lower scores in some of the PIP subclasses.

Conclusion: In this study, we found that younger age and young age at the diagnosis of diabetes are associated with increased parental stress while insulin pump therapy and certain sociodemographic background lessen the parental stress in parents of children with type 1 diabetes.