Supporting Resilience and Positive Outcomes in Families, Children, and Adolescents

Grasping the immediate and long-term implications of diagnosis of diabetes is a complex process for the child or young person as well as their parents and the wider family. Learning to live with diabetes is the beginning of a long and challenging journey. At a practical level, it will involve regular visits to hospital, a need to “adhere” to complex medical regimens, and will demand changes in food and activities. Immediate and ongoing medical investigations may be invasive, uncomfortable, or painful with ongoing treatment regimens requiring medication, injections, blood measurements, and brain or body scans. Taking in the immediate demands of treatment can be confusing and frustrating. The realization of the potential long-term impact of the illness on a young person’s hopes, dreams, and ambitions can be devastating.