Parents’ perspectives of factors affecting parent–adolescent communication about type 1 diabetes and negotiation of self-management responsibilities

Abstract

Adolescence is an important time in which young people take on type 1 diabetes (T1D) self-management responsibility. Parents are key facilitators of this process. Little is known about parents’ experiences of communicating with their children about T1D during adolescence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 parents (24 mothers and 8 fathers) of adolescents (11–17 years) living with T1D to explore how parents communicate about T1D and self-management with their adolescent children. Parents were recruited through two national child and adolescent diabetes and endocrine clinics and online advertisement through a national diabetes advocacy organisation. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Six themes were identified: parent factors, quality of the parent–adolescent relationship, communication strategies, adolescent factors, communication triggers and family/system factors. Understanding factors that impact communication about self-management between parents and adolescents will enable healthcare professionals to provide support and targeted interventions as parent and adolescent roles change over time.