The Effect of Family Psychoeducation on Burden of Care in Families with Type I Diabetic Children

Abstract

Background: When controlling diabetes in children, families suffer from burden of care imposed by the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of family psychoeducation on the burden of care imposed on families of adolescents with type 1 diabetes referring to Golestan diabetes clinic in Ahvaz city. Methods: The present study was a clinical trial with before-after design. The study population included families with adolescents with type 1 diabetes aged 12 - 19 years. A total of 40 families of sick children and one parent who was more in touch with the patient were selected and randomly divided into experimental (20 families) and control groups (20 families). To measure family burden of care, burden of care Questionnaire (DFI-S) was used. Family psychoeducation was carried out for the experimental group twice a week for 8 sessions of 90 minutes. Independent and paired t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to compare the mean score of family burden of care in both groups while Chi-square test was used to compare qualitative variables between the two groups. SPSS v. 20 was used for statistical analysis. Results: The most frequent age range of diabetic children was 12 - 14 years (55%) and 15 - 19 years in the experimental and control groups (65%), respectively. Most fathers and mothers were self-employed (60%) and homemakers (85%), respectively. The mean score of burden of care imposed on families before the intervention in the experimental and control groups was 26.6 and 30.15, respectively, that reduced to 21.6 and 30.35 three months after the intervention, respectively, showing no change. Conclusions: Family psychoeducation can reduce family burden of care imposed by adolescents suffering from type I diabetes and increase the period for families facing the disease. It also reduces medical treatment costs and length of stay in health centers and increases quality of home care.