Improving Metabolic Control in Diabetic Young Children

: Although intervention or prevention with young children with T1DM may help ameliorate problems or forestall later problems in metabolic control, a number of potential barriers to research have constrained the development of such interventions. To assess the feasibility of intervening with young children and their families, we propose to conduct an exploratory pilot study of a behavioral intervention for young children (ages 7 to 11) newly diagnosed with T1DM. The intervention, derived from the pediatric prevention work of Seligman and his colleagues, seeks to apply positive psychology principles to enhance optimism, self-efficacy, and parent-child collaboration in diabetes management, in order to improve quality of life, adherence, and metabolic control. This exploratory study will allow us to evaluate the feasibility of intervening with young children and their caretakers and to estimate intervention effect sizes in preparation for a randomized controlled clinical trial.