Young people with diabetes and their peers

Diabetes is amongst the most common forms of chronic illness affecting young people in the United Kingdom. Failure to achieve good self-management and control of diabetes in adolescence can lead to poor diabetes outcomes in adulthood, but it is known that effectively managing their own condition can be very difficult for young people.

Peer group relationships and pressures are increasingly important throughout adolescence as young people begin to spend more time outside their home environment and away from their parents. Whilst it is known that relationships with others can impact on self-management of diabetes, previous research has generally focused on young people in their family setting. Research recently completed in the Centre for Applied Psychological and Health Research (CAPHR) has explored the impact of those close to young people with diabetes from a novel angle - focusing on what the friends and peers of young people with diabetes know about the condition, and how they respond to it.

The research, funded by Diabetes UK under their small grant scheme, was led by Dr Jo Brooks from CAPHR in collaboration with colleagues from Leeds, Manchester and Huddersfield. Jo interviewed young people with diabetes and their close friends about their experiences of managing diabetes, as well as about their experiences of peer responses to the condition. This information was then used by the research team to develop educational materials for young people in secondary schools, with a particular focus on challenging mistaken beliefs or unhelpful responses to diabetes identified by the interview participants. These materials were then piloted with pupils at a local secondary school, Almondbury High.

The researchers found that there were significant differences reported in the support offered in schools to young people with diabetes. Those young people with diabetes who reported that they were well supported at school by teaching staff seemed to be more comfortable in dealing with their condition, and were more open with regards to their condition and its management with their friends and peers. Overall, research participants suggested that there was a need for greater awareness of diabetes and for more education about the condition in schools. Participants suggested that this would help normalise the condition and that young people with the condition would thus be less likely to be the focus of unwanted attention. The educational materials that were piloted with the focus groups were well-received. Findings from this work suggest that more education about diabetes amongst young people is needed, but also encouragingly that this would be welcomed by young people themselves. Dr Brooks and the research team now hope to use this work to develop a larger scale project to increase awareness of diabetes in school settings amongst both pupils and teaching staff.

The research report is available on the University’s repository.