Family Teamwork and Coping Skills Prevention Program

Promotion of optimal disease care and metabolic control in youth with Type 1 diabetes is an important goal of disease management during early adolescence. Typically youth assume increasing responsibility for these goals along with parental involvement and guidance. However, as youth progress through adolescence, parents often become less involved in diabetes management and poorer self-care and metabolic control often results.

The goal of the prevention program is to encourage parents to remain involved in their child's diabetes care throughout adolescence and to provide tools to help make that involvement a positive experience. To minimize parent/child conflict that may accompany sustained parental involvement, sessions of the active treatment review the following coping skills: communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, attitude and behavior change. Meetings occur in-clinic in conjunction with four consecutive medical appointments.

The educational comparison group also meets with study researchers for in-clinic sessions that occur in conjunction with four consecutive medical appointments. Families discuss a variety of helpful educational diabetes topics and resources.

The overarching project goal is to demonstrate the efficacy of a brief, prevention focused coping skills program for youth with type 1 diabetes and their parents with the ultimate goal of translation into routine pediatric care.