Assessing Friend Support of Adolescents' Diabetes Care: The Diabetes Social Support Questionnaire-Friends Version

OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate the Diabetes Social Support Questionnaire for Friends (DSSQ-Friends), a measure of friends' supportive behaviors for adolescents with diabetes. Gender and age differences in friends' support for diabetes were examined, as well as the relationship between friend support and adolescents' treatment adherence. METHODS: Seventy-four adolescents (11-18 years) completed the DSSQ-Friends in addition to other measures of social support and a measure of treatment adherence. The behaviors on the DSSQ-Friends were scored for supportiveness and frequency. A combined rating (frequency x support) was also calculated to adjust the frequency of friends' support for adolescents' perceptions of supportiveness. RESULTS: The DSSQ-Friends had acceptable internal consistency and good test-retest reliability; it correlated well with other measures of friend support. Age-related differences were minimal; however, compared to boys, girls reported more friend support for blood glucose testing and emotions. Friend support was not related to overall treatment adherence but was related to adherence for blood glucose testing. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss the utility of the DSSQ-Friends as a clinical and research tool for measuring diabetes-specific friend support and offer suggestions for future research on friends' support for adolescents' diabetes care.