title: Self-care of young adolescents with type 1 diabetes.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe the universal and health deviation self-care of adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and the associations of basic conditioning factors with universal and health deviation self-care. Subjects for this study were 152 adolescents aged between 11 and 15 years with a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. Data were collected in the home setting of each adolescent and his or her family. The mean universal self-care scores ranged from 66.62% to 90%. The overall mean for this sample was 75.37, indicating that these adolescents took care of their self-care needs 75% of the time. Health deviation self-care was a mean of 27.26, indicating more positive self-care behaviors and treatment adherence. Health deviation and universal self-care were significantly and positively related (r = .36, p < .001). Ethnicity and adolescent sex were statistically significant in predicting universal self-care. Adolescent age was statistically significant in predicting health deviation self-care. Health deviation self-care decreases with age, suggesting that early adolescence or late school age is an appropriate time for interventions to strengthen self-care behaviors. Furthermore, the interrelationship of the two types of self-care supports the potential for a synergistic effect of intervention.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Carol J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Dashiff
authors.forename: Alberta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCaleb
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cull
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology; D015144:Southeastern United States