June 3, 2000
Social Issues: Community Resources
Question from Woodland Hills, California, USA:
This is a professional asking a general question to better meet the needs of the families I work with who have diabetes. Every quarter I run an education/support group and I am looking for ideas and suggestions of topics. There are 4 groups ranging from age 3 to 17. I would appreciate any suggestions.
Answer:
You can talk about so many topics, its really hard to offer you just a few!
For parents of preschoolers, you can talk about the common concerns about shot refusals, blood check refusals, and food refusals. For school-age children, you can talk about feelings of being different from peers and ways for parents to remain consistently involved in their child’s diabetes care. For teens, you can talk about issues of transitioning responsibility for self-care, peer relationships, and problems of regimen adherence.
I hope this helps.
JWB
