Gruppebasert intervensjon i familier med ungdom som har type 1 Diabetes

The aim of this article is to describe the design and elements of a group intervention for adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes and their families. Diabetes imposes considerable psychosocial demands on these adolescents and their families, which in many cases causes diabetes related family conflicts with a negative impact on the adolescent's glycemic control and self-care behaviors. The group intervention aims at improving the peer group support, problem-solving and communicative skills in the parent — adolescent relationships. A total of 60 adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes (age 13 to 18 years) and their parents were invited to participate in this study. A total of 19 adolescents agreed to participate. They were recruited from the list of outpatient clinics in two centers in Nord — Trøndelag county. Both the adolescents and their parents were completing a battery of self-report measures, including the modified quality of life measure for youths (Diabetes Quality of Life Questionnaire) at pre treatment, during treatment, post treatment and at one year follow up. In addition the adolescents were screened on their glycemic values (HbA1c) on a regular basis. In conclusion, the development of efficient psychosocial interventions are highly needed. Our intervention is peer-oriented and psychoeducative. Preliminary results based on interviews of the participants have demonstrated that the group interventions improved the parent — adolescent relationships. However, the analyses and results of the study with one year follow up will be presented later.