Helping Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes “Figure It Out”

•Accepting diabetes as your ‘new normal’ is an important step in learning to cope.•Gaining confidence in diabetes management and making it a priority are important.•Showing responsibility in self-care is enhanced with positive supportive behaviors•Maintaining motivation and setting goals are useful in staying on track with DSM.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to gain an understanding of adolescent’s experiences living with diabetes and build a theoretical paradigm for future interventions in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The adolescent’s quest for independence, balancing blood sugars, and integrating diabetes led to increased conflict with parents which contributed to difficulty coping. One code in this study, “figuring it out”, is the focus of this manuscript.MethodsGrounded theory with 15 in depth interviews were conducted with adolescents ages 11 to 15 with T1DM.ResultsA theoretical model about the concept of “normalizing” was identified. Normalizing was defined as the ability to integrate diabetes into the background of one’s daily life to make diabetes ‘part of me’. The fifth phase of normalizing was “Figuring it out” which had 4 sub codes: (1) learning to accept diabetes, (2) believing it’s possible to manage their diabetes, (3) showing responsibility, and (4) staying on track, and the normalizing task was “accepting the new normal”.ConclusionsAdolescents with T1DM develop the understanding that diabetes is their ‘new normal’. The use of motivational interviewing, goal setting, and promotion of self-management may be important interventions in supporting adolescents with T1DM to normalize their life.