Examining the caregiver burden of parents whose children have type 1 diabetes

Abstract

Aim The aim of this research is to examine the caregiver burden of parents whose children have Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Subject and methods This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 105 parents. Data were obtained through face-to-face interviews, using the Zarit Burden Interview and completion of a personal data form. Results In the sample, 61.9% of the parents are between 36 and 60 years of age, The height/weight of 41.0% of the children are in the 25-50 percentile, 55.2% of the children can apply insulin themselves, 67.6% of the children report having been negatively affected by T1DM in terms of daily life activities, and 81.9% of the children had T1DM training with their parents from a designated nurse. It was also identified that there are statistically significant differences on the Burden Interview score depending on the age when the child is diagnosed with diabetes, the duration of diabetes, whether there is an additional illness or not, the person who applies insulin, an incident of having a problem while applying the insulin, and the health worker who provided the T1DM training (p < 0.05). In this study, the parents' Burden Interview mean score has been found 19.46 +/- 6.31 indicating a moderate level of burden. Conclusions Consequently, these parents have demonstrated a burden of risk that may benefit from additional support while caring for their children.