Knowledge and Self-efficacy among Children with Type 1 Diabetes and their Caregivers

Diabetes is a chronic illness that have a major impact on the life of children and adolescents, as well as their families or caregivers. Self-efficacy regarding diabetes management is the capacity that influenced by knowledge and awareness. The lack of knowledge about diabetes can lead to inadequate diabetes management practices and can be lethal to the patient. Aim of the study: To assess knowledge and self-efficacy among children with type 1 diabetes and their caregivers. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted which included 100 caregivers and 100 children with type 1 diabetes who attended the Diabetes Clinic for School Children affiliated to El-Mabara hospital for health insurance, El-Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, from December 2018 to May 2019. Tools: Diabetic Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ), Parental Self Effificacy Scale for Diabetes Management (PSESDM), and Self-Efficacy for Diabetes Scale (SED) for children. A Structured Questionnaire was developed by the researchers to assess more specific knowledge regarding diabetes. Results: The results showed that only 38.7% of the studied children and 45.4% of caregivers have sufficient general knowledge regarding diabetes. Concerning self efficacy, the results demonstrated that 51.9% of children and 48.7 of caregivers had very poor self efficacy regarding diabetes management while, those who had good self-efficacy constituted only 13.5% of caregivers and 12.3% of children. Conclusion & recommendations: The findings of this study concluded that, children and caregivers had insufficient general knowledge regarding diabetes and also both children and caregivers had very poor self-efficacy regarding diabetes management. The study findings recommended the requisite for structured training programs at the diabetes clinics for school age children to improve knowledge of diabetic children and their caregivers to promote better compliance towards self-care management and prevent diabetes-related complications.