Supporting Parents of Children With Type 1 Diabetes: Experiment Comparing Message and Delivery Types

BACKGROUND: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic condition that typically affects young age group people and is estimated to afflict approximately 154,000 people younger than 20 years in the United States. Since T1D typically impacts children, parents must play an active role in helping their child manage the condition. This creates a substantial burden and responsibility for the parents. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study sought to find ways to help parents with children with T1D in coping with stresses related to managing and monitoring their child’s disease by providing informational support, either about parenting a child with T1D or general parenting messages through different channels. METHODS: Parents (N=120) of children with T1D were recruited through an email listserv through local T1D Facebook groups. A total of 102 participants were included in the analysis. We conducted a 2×2 experimental study over an 8-week period to test 2 types of messages (diabetes specific vs general parenting) and the medium in which the messages were delivered (Facebook vs SMS text message). Diabetes behavior, informational support, emotional support, and quality of life were the main outcomes of interest. RESULTS: The results suggested that the participants in the diabetes message groups showed improvement in diabetes behaviors (F(1,99)=3.69; P=.05) and were more satisfied with the intervention (F(3,98)=4.59; P=.005). There were no differences between message and medium groups on informational support, emotional support, or quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrate that the medium—Facebook or SMS text messaging—does not matter for parents’ perceptions of social support or quality of life. The diabetes message group reported higher levels of disease management. Finally, the groups with the diabetes support messages were more satisfied than those who received general parenting messages. The findings provide starting guidance for the development of social support interventions for this population.