Claire Christiansen Brady, SN and Mentor: Donna Freeborn, APRN, PhD, College of Nursing

Introduction
The purpose of this research was to better understand parental experiences of raising a
child with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) to adulthood in order to help parents and educators
better understand how to facilitate child(ren) with T1DM in transitioning into adulthood and
managing diabetes independently. T1DM is commonly diagnosed when someone is younger
than 18. This life-changing diagnosis not only affects the child, but the whole family unit.
Although there is research involving parents who are currently raising T1DM children, there is
very little research involving parents whose children with T1DM are now adults. As parents
reflect on their experiences after raising their child with T1DM, they can better understand the
whole picture of how T1DM affected their lives. Parents who have experience raising children
with T1DM from a young age to adulthood have a more thorough perspective and can
retrospectively learn from their actions to help healthcare providers and parents who have
children newly diagnosed with T1DM. A parent may have a different perspective now than they
did when they were in the middle of raising their child. The information from these parents can
empower health care providers with a better understanding of experiences of raising a T1DM
child and will provide them the ability to better care for parents and patients throughout the
entire experience of T1DM. The findings will also provide parents who are currently raising a
child(ren) with T1DM additional advice, perspectives, and understanding from parents who
have already experienced raising a T1DM child to adulthood.

Methodology
A qualitative research was done in 2015-2016 where we used the Biographical Method
consisting of two detailed interviews. Our sample included 16 females, and 2 males
representing 23 children. The age of the parent at time of interview ranged from 44-69 years
old, the age of the children at time of interview ranged from 18-36 years old, and the age of the
children at diagnoses ranged from 13 months to 16 years old. In the first interview the parents
were asked to “tell us about raising your child(ren) with type 1 diabetes”. In the second
interview parents were asked a seris of questions, including: “tell me about when your
child(ren) were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes”, “what challenges do you remember?”, and
“how did your challenges change over time?”. I then read through the interviews and
preformed a data analysis and focused specifically on parental responses and experiences
relating to transitioning each child(ren) into adulthood

Results
I found three commons themes throughout my research. Including parental
interventions/roles, parental support, and parental challenges. Through my research, I found
that parents shared the importance of having their child assume age-appropriate T1DM
managements and skills and assume more responsibilities over time, teaching their child
specific tools to promote independence while still under parental supervision, celebrating
positive moments and having a positive attitude, and treating their child as normal and instilling
a sense of confidence, being understanding, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. Parents also
mentioned the challenge of having parental nervousness and fear of relinquishing control, but
understood that in doing so it would naturally lead to conflict as their child becomes more
independent.

Discussion
The results found can lead to nursing implications and parental interventions, which were
previously mentioned. The nursing implications that I felt were applicable include nurses
acknowledging parents and helping them understand their role when their child is diagnosed
with T1DM, educating both the patient and the parents to help them understand what to
expect physically, mentally, and emotionally, helping the patient understand it is their
responsibility to become independent as they transition into adulthood, teaching parents
interventions on how to help transition their children to adulthood with T1DM, and
understanding that parents know their child better than anyone and taking their thoughts and
ideas into consideration.

Conclusion
Parents go through a great deal while raising their child(ren) with T1DM to adulthood. By
utilizing interventions and supporting their child throughout the entire process to
independence the transition can become smoother. As parents learn to hand over
responsibilities to their child(ren) with T1DM, the child(ren) will become more prepared to
manage adulthood. Nurses should understand the effects of raising a child(ren) with T1DM to
adulthood and play a supporting and educating role throughout the process. Overall, parents
have a big role in helping their child transition into independence with T1DM, and should be
aware of the interventions they can do to best assist their child(ren) transition to adulthood.

Quotes
“I think it was helpful just providing the little steps along the way to each bigger path – letting
her know that yeah she can. She can do anything she wants to do.”
“I can’t worry about it, it’s his thing and I just can’t do it, I cannot, of course as a mother you
worry about it, but I cannot obsess with it, I’ve taught him, his dad has taught him, it is his life,
he needs to learn how to take care of it, because if I don’t give him that kind of freedom then
he, he is always going to use it as a crutch and never be able to progress”
“They told her – This is your disease. You must learn to control this. This is not mom’s disease.
And so from the beginning you have to give yourself your own shots. I couldn’t believe it. Thank
goodness they trained us right because it made her responsible instead of me.”
“My goal is to give my children the skills, but also the confidence to leave home”
JC – “I think that’s probably one of the things that I would say if you’re raising a child with type
1 diabetes is try to give them the confidence and the power to have as much of a normal life as
you can. And don’t let a medical issue ever be an excuse or a way to get attention or create
other issues”