The Blood Glucose Monitoring Communication questionnaire: an instrument to measure affect specific to blood glucose monitoring.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to present the psychometric properties of a new tool for evaluating affective response to blood glucose monitoring (BGM) in youths with type 1 diabetes and their parents.


METHODS
Study participants included 153 youths with type 1 diabetes and their parents. Each youth and parent completed the Blood Glucose Monitoring Communication (BGMC) questionnaire, Diabetes Family Conflict Scale, and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Statistical analyses evaluated the psychometric properties of the BGMC questionnaires and their association with glycemic outcomes.


RESULTS
Youth and parent BGMC questionnaires had acceptable internal consistency (youth, alpha = 0.77; parent, alpha = 0.82) and 1-year test-retest reliability (youth, r = 0.60; parent, r = 0.80). Higher BGMC questionnaire scores (indicating more negative affect) showed a strong association with higher levels of diabetes-specific family conflict (youth, r = 0.33; parent, r = 0.44) and poorer health-related psychosocial quality of life (youth, r = -0.50; parent, r = -0.42). Higher BGMC questionnaire scores were also associated with poorer glycemic control (youth, r = 0.28; parent, r = 0.20), even when the effects of diabetes-specific family conflict and psychosocial quality of life were controlled. Youths with BGMC questionnaire scores in the upper quartile had A1c values 1 percentage point higher (9.1%) than youths with scores in the lowest quartile (8.0%).


CONCLUSIONS
The BGMC questionnaires have strong psychometric properties and are convenient measures of affect specific to BGM. Further, BGM affect is associated with glycemic outcomes and may provide a unique contribution to factors associated with glycemic control in youths.
Hood
Korey K
KK
Pediatric and Adolescent Unit, Genetics and Epidemiology Section, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. lori.laffel@joslin.harvard.edu
Butler
Deborah A
DA
Volkening
Lisa K
LK
Anderson
Barbara J
BJ
Laffel
Lori M B
LM
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011584:Psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards
D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin