Exploring the Learning Needs and Stress of Parents Managing Childhood Diabetes Mellitus: A Hospital-Based Study

Philomina Mathew, Bincy George, Poornima R N. — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The World Health Organization defines Diabetes mellitus as a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion or its action or both. As the immune system targets and destroys the portion of the pancreas that influences insulin production, type 1 diabetes is the most prevalent kind of the disease in children. Increasing of immune cells associated with obesity, inflammation, and increased oxidative stress lead to impaired metabolism in insulin-sensitive tissues, and eventually insulin resistance occurs. Parents usually show emotional and physical stress after the diagnosis of the disease. It is critical to understand how to manage a child with diabetes, especially how to administer insulin.

Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used for the study. The study was conducted at one selected tertiary care hospital in Bangalore. The subjects were selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique. The sample size for the study was forty-six parents of children diagnosed with diabetes mellitus in the inpatient and outpatient units of the pediatric department. A structured questionnaire was used for the collection of demographic variables of the subjects. Parental stress was assessed by using standard tool- parental stress scale and a self-structured questionnaire was used to assess the learning needs.

Results: The present study reveals that the overall mean score of parental stress is 42.7 ± 9.29. The majority of the parents (56.5%) expressed that they must know about the complications of type1 diabetes mellitus.

Conclusion: The stress and learning needs of parents of children diagnosed with diabetes mellitus have been brought to light by the current study. Using a purposive sampling technique, 46 subjects were chosen for this descriptive study. Identification of the stress of parents helped the researcher to provide proper information and psychological support to families. Additionally, the researcher developed an information pamphlet to meet the most important learning needs of the parents, including complications and causes of type1 DM, different aspects of diabetic care, importance of exercises, and duration between food and insulin administration.

Journal of Perinatal, Pediatric and Neonatal Nursing

Exploring the Learning Needs and Stress of Parents Managing Childhood Diabetes Mellitus: A Hospital-Based Study