Psychosocial care and type 1 diabetes

Assigning student mentors to teenagers with type 1 diabetes and low socioeconomic status brings a variety of benefits to both mentors and mentees, show the results of a US pilot study.

Young people who deliberately omit insulin to either lose weight or prevent weight gain report worse psychosocial functioning, particularly depressive symptoms, than those who have never skipped a dose for this reason, study data show.

Diabetes distress is more common than depression in adolescents with diabetes and is significantly associated with less frequent blood glucose monitoring and higher glycated hemoglobin levels, study findings indicate.

Shared medical appointments may help adolescents with type 1 diabetes to reduce family conflict and improve their depressive symptoms, show data presented at the 79th ADA Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, California, USA.

Factors associated with poor glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes generally vary according to the insulin regimen used, but family conflict over diabetes management universally impacts all insulin users, US researchers report.

Giving children continuous glucose monitoring from the point of diabetes diagnosis gives their caregivers greater confidence to manage hypoglycemia and reduces their diabetes-related distress, shows a randomized trial.

It is just as important to help adults with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes learn how to live with the condition as it is to teach them about it, show results of a narrative study among patients from the UK and Denmark.

Insulin manipulation, the practice of deliberately under- or overdosing insulin, is strongly associated with psychiatric comorbidity in children and young adults with type 1 diabetes, Austrian research shows.

The Flexible Lifestyles Empowering Change intervention has failed to improve glycated hemoglobin levels in a randomized trial involving adolescents with type 1 diabetes, despite improving some psychosocial outcomes.

Only a very small proportion of adolescents and young adults with diabetes who are referred for outpatient psychotherapy actually receive these services, even when there is an integrated pediatric psychologist in the clinic, research shows.

Supported problem-solving does not result in improved glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes, but does reduce diabetes distress, show the findings of a randomized trial.

Findings from a randomized trial suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy may significantly alleviate chronic fatigue in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Cognitive behavioral therapy may be a more effective intervention than non-directive, supportive counselling to help adolescents with type 1 diabetes to maintain glycemic control, a randomized control trial shows.