Social level interventions: Enhancing peer support and coping in pediatric diabetes populations

Abstract

In this entry, the authors review the literature on peer support and coping skills training for children and adolescents with type 1 and type 2 diabetes to develop a comprehensive review and make recommendations for practice and research. The search was limited to articles published from 2000 to 2018. A total of ten studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Peer support was defined as the provision of emotional, appraisal, and informational assistance by a created social network member who possesses experiential knowledge of a specific behavior or stressor and similar characteristics as the target population, to address a health-related issue of a potentially or actually stressed focal person. Coping skills training is a psychosocial self-management support intervention focused on improving the coping skills of social problem-solving, communication skills, cognitive-behavioral modification, and stress management. The majority of the studies focused on adolescents. Recommendations for implementation and dissemination research are made.