Sense of Coherence and Resolution with Diagnosis among Parents of Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

• Parents’ sense of coherence showed that the SOC of parents of children with chronic diseases enables them to cope better with the new reality and to view their child’s disease as less threatening and to perceive their child as healthier.
• The current study focuses on SOC in the context of the parental caregiving system, and asks whether parents’ SOC may be associated with better resolution of the adolescent child’s disease.
• The findings testify to the importance of parents’ positive perceptions of life, their inner motivation driven by a sense of meaning and their individual and social resources. Hence, clinicians may use intervention to enhance parents’ SOC leading to the reconstruction of the caregiving system.
• Physicians, clinic staff and other clinicians should not only focus on disease’s aspects in child treatment, but also support parents in the crucial stages since the diagnoses, enhancing their SOC and maintaining it as a resource for their well-being and their child health and mental health.

IntroductionThe current study focuses on parents' sense of coherence and its association to their resolution of the child's disease.MethodsWe conducted a study of 122 mothers and fathers of adolescents who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes to assess their SOC and their reactions to their child's diagnosis.ResultsA significant difference was found in SOC between parents who have come to terms with their child's disease and parents who have not.ConclusionFindings may testify to the importance of parents' state of mind as a resource for reconstructing their caregiving system.