Showing papers on "Diabetes management published in 1983"

Problems of Mothers in Management of Children with Diabetes

Abstract: This study was designed to determine which aspects of diabetic management were perceived by mothers of children with diabetes to be the most problematic. A secondary purpose was to explore how age and sex of the child, age at diagnosis, illness duration, marital status, and socioeconomic status of the mother were related to the mother's perception of problematic aspects of care. The 84 subjects in this study were asked to complete the Diabetic Management Concern Questionnaire, which measures concern about 11 dimensions of diabetes management, along with a personal-situational information sheet. Results indicated that the three dimensions classified by mothers as most problematic were future concerns, hypoglycemia, and diabetic control. The younger the child, the greater the maternal concern about hypoglycemic reactions and availability of help/support. The younger the child was at diagnosis, the more the mother was concerned with hypoglycemic reactions. A shorter duration of illness was related to concern about insulin injections. Subjects with lower socioeconomic status were concerned about finances, the availability of help/support, and the psychological stigma of diabetes. Single mothers were also concerned about financial aspects of management. There were no differences in concerns between mothers of boys and girls. Implications of the findings for clinical practice are presented.

A tool for assessing compliance with a diet for diabetes.

Abstract: In summary, criteria to define good, acceptable, and unacceptable compliance with a CONTROL or HCF diabetic diet were established. With the use of these criteria, a simplified system for the evaluation of compliance was developed. The compliance system used an interview approach and a checklist on which patients recorded their food intake in terms of the number of food exchanges consumed throughout the day. The results of this study suggest that (a) research subjects will keep accurate food records using a checklist system for up to 30 weeks; (b) the described compliance system is a valuable educational tool and can assist in the interpretation of clinical data used in diabetes management; and (c) the assigned compliance grades correlate with quantitative parameters of diabetic control.

The use of insulin pump therapy in adolescents.

Abstract: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) systems have been used in diabetes management since the mid-1970s. Investigators have reported encouraging results with CSII use in adult subjects with dramatically improved glucose control, reversal of some complications, and high acceptance and compliance rates. We have studied 10 adolescents and 3 young adults using CSII for diabetes management. Only the three young adults (ages 20, 24, 34 years) have had markedly improved metabolic control, sustained pump use, and made adequate psychological adjustment to CSII therapy. Adolescent subjects, (ages 9-17 years), experienced problems with peer acceptance of pumps, had difficulty with infusion needle insertion and skin care, were unable to perform home blood glucose monitoring consistently, made nonadvised manipulations of insulin dosage and reported mechanical problems with CSII devices more frequently than the young adult subjects. Mean duration of CSII use in adolescent subjects (6.1 months) was significantly less than mean use (30.6 months) among the young adults (p less than 0.01). Currently, adults appear to have greater success than adolescents in using CSII for diabetes management.