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. 2017 Mar 29:5:2050312117700056.
doi: 10.1177/2050312117700056. eCollection 2017.

Health care to empower self-care in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and an immigrant minority background

Åse Boman  1 , Margareta Bohlin  2 , Mats Eklöf  3 , Gun Forsander  4   5 , Christian Munthe  6 , Marianne Törner  7
Affiliations

Health care to empower self-care in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and an immigrant minority background

Åse Boman et al. SAGE Open Med. .

Abstract

Background: The pediatric diabetes team aims to support health, quality of life, and normal growth and development among adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Adolescents with an immigrant background have been found less successful in self-care. Previous research indicated that adolescents who had integrated the disease as a part of their self-image reasoned differently about their self-care to those who had not.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify elements in the patient-pediatrician consultations that might influence such integration of the disease among adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: A total of 12 pediatrician-adolescent consultations were video-recorded and analyzed. The adolescents all had an immigrant background.

Results: Integration of the disease appeared enabled when responsibility was shared; when hope, autonomy, and emotions were confirmed; and when the pediatrician asked probing questions. Letting objective data dominate the adolescent's experiences, using risk as a motivator, neutralizing emotions in relation to having diabetes, and confirming forgetfulness, may instead inhibit disease integration.

Conclusion: An extended person-centered approach with focus on the adolescent's experiences of everyday life with a chronic disease and less attention on physical parameters in the pediatrician-adolescent consultations may increase integration of the disease.

Keywords: Adolescents; diabetes; healthcare professionals; immigrant; phenomenography; self-care; type 1 diabetes mellitus; youth at-risk.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Model showing how adolescents with T1DM and a non-Swedish background reasoned regarding self-care, social situation, and care support offered to them by the pediatric diabetes teams. Published with kind permission from SAGE.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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