Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Apr 16, 2021; 9(11): 2478-2486
Published online Apr 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i11.2478
Parents' experience of caring for children with type 1 diabetes in mainland China: A qualitative study
Hui-Juan Tong, Feng Qiu, Ling Fan
Hui-Juan Tong, Ling Fan, Department of Nursing, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Hui-Juan Tong, Nursing School, Shenyang Medical University, Shenyang 110034, Liaoning Province, China
Feng Qiu, Department of Ophthalmology, Shenyang Fourth People’s Hospital, Shenyang 110034, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Tong HJ performed the study; Qiu F and Fan L analyzed the data; Tong HJ and Fan L wrote the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the institutional review board of Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, China (No. 2018PS362K). All participants provided written informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this study. No financial support was received for this study.
Data sharing statement: Statistical code and data are available from the corresponding author.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ling Fan, MD, Chief Nurse, Professor, Department of Nursing, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. fanl_sj0512@163.com
Received: August 13, 2020
Peer-review started: August 13, 2020
First decision: December 14, 2020
Revised: December 28, 2020
Accepted: January 27, 2021
Article in press: January 27, 2021
Published online: April 16, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. Since the self-management of children with T1DM is a tedious and demanding care task, it is extremely challenging for the parents and their children. Parents of children with T1DM are troubled by various needs of the child's diabetes management. Under the specific background of family, education, medical care, etc. in China, the parents' experience of caring for their children with T1DM at different stages of the disease need to be discussed in depth to assist and support parents in adapting to their parental caregiver roles.

Research motivation

As a lifelong disease, the disease management of T1DM is long-term and arduous. Children's families, especially their parents, are the main caregivers of children. it is necessary to explore the physical and psychological needs of parents of children with T1DM after diagnosis and the changes of their needs in different stages of care, so as to assist and support parents to adapt to their role changes and improve the quality of care of children with T1DM.

Research objectives

This research aimed to describe the real inner feelings and care experience of parents in the process of caring for children with T1DM, and to explore the categories and themes of care needs of parents of children with T1DM.

Research methods

Descriptive research methods were used to classify and summarize parents' experience when adapting to the role of caregivers for children with T1DM. The data was sorted and analyzed using content analysis. Themes of parents' experience caring for children with T1DM were refined, and their feelings were deeply investigated.

Research results

A total of 4 themes and 12 subthemes were identified: Desire for information, skill guidance needs, seeking emotional support, and lack of social support.

Research conclusions

Exploring the true experience of parents caring for children with T1DM is of great significance for helping them adapt to their role as caregivers. Nurses should provide professional guidance in terms of information, skills, emotion, and social support to parental caregivers.

Research perspectives

The care experience of parents of children with T1DM is staged and individualized. Nurses should provide professional guidance in different stages and in a planned way, which can help parents with T1DM adapt to the roles of their caregivers.