Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on families of children and adolescents with diabetes: maternal perspective.
Milena de Lucca, Diene Monique Carlos, Ana Carolina Andrade Biaggi Leite and 5 others
PMID 42524951WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers of children with type 1 diabetes described pandemic fear, heavier caregiving, and disrupted routines; they also adapted by tightening hygiene, monitoring diet, exercising at home, and leaning on family, peers, and health care providers.
Key findings
01Eight mothers of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes were interviewed, and the analysis produced three themes: intensifying care, (Re)assuming control, and reinventing family life.
02Mothers reported persistent fear of infection and a heavy mental burden, including depressive symptoms, distress, crying, decreased appetite, weight loss, frustration, nonacceptance, and powerlessness.
03Mothers intensified infection-prevention routines and relied on support from health care providers, extended family, other mothers of children with diabetes, and faith.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only eight mothers were interviewed, and they were recruited through social media, purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling, so the accounts may not represent other families. The mothers were highly educated: 87.5% had completed higher education, and the limitation section says seven had completed and one was attending higher education, so low-income and less-educated experiences are missing. Remote interviews may have limited access to economically disadvantaged groups, and the study was done in Brazil, so transferability to other settings or chronic conditions is cautious. The paper reports themes from interviews, not measured clinical outcomes.
Declared interests
Funded by CAPES and CNPq. The supplied text gives no conflicts of interest statement.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that pandemic restrictions worsened diabetes control or that the mothers' routines made children safer. The study interviewed eight mothers, 87.5% with completed higher education, and reports themes, not measured clinical outcomes.