Understanding the parental journey: Exploring experiences, needs, and perceptions during hospitalization for children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE: The onset of childhood diabetes necessitates that the child and family quickly must learn numerous self-management tasks. Diabetes education is key to successful self-management, and established diabetes-related habits are known to be difficult to change. Hence, the initial hospital-based diabetes education and support is a distinct opportunity to optimize habits and disease management. The aim of this study is to investigate parents' experiences with the education and support provided at the hospital when a child has been newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

METHODS: Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children (0-18 years) newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Inductive thematic analysis was used for data analysis.

RESULTS: Four overarching themes, each with its own implications were identified: 1) From a feeling of uncertainty toward a sense of perceived security 2) Certainty induces calmness 3) A balanced approach to diabetes 4) Trying to learn all about diabetes in just one week. The four themes stress the families' need of immediate reassurance from the health professionals.

CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The study sheds light on families' challenges during initial hospital-based diabetes education, offering insights for healthcare professionals to tailor support strategies and improve diabetes management.