Psychosocial adjustment of young offspring in the context of parental type 1 and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review. Issue 7 (9th March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Landi, G.; Andreozzi, M. S.; Pakenham, K. I.; Grandi, S.; Tossani, E.
• Is Part Of: Diabetic medicine. Volume 37:Issue 7(2020)
• Page Start: 1103
• Page End: 1113
• Publication Date: 2020-03-09
• Subjects: Diabetes -- Periodicals; 616.462
• DOI: 10.1111/dme.14271
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0742-3071

Abstract

Abstract: Aims: To identify all available research on psychosocial outcomes in young people who have a parent with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Methods: Embase, PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and ProQuest Social Sciences databases were searched according to a registered study protocol (PROSPERO CRD42019125301). Quality assessment, data extraction and data synthesis were carried out. Results: The initial search yielded 11 599 articles, 10 of which met the criteria for this review: six for type 1 diabetes and four for type 2 diabetes. Through thematic analysis, five categories emerged related to offspring psychosocial adjustment: offspring mental health, offspring physical health, offspring personal resources, parental illness characteristics and offspring caregiving. Overall, there were few studies focusing solely on the effects of parental type 1 and type 2 diabetes on young people. From the limited available research, there is weak evidence suggesting both parental types of diabetes can adversely impact young offspring. Illness‐related variables were only explored in parental type 1 diabetes studies, while offspring caregiving was only examined in parental type 2 diabetes studies. Conclusions: Research on the effects of parental diabetes on young people is scarce; however, there was weak evidence to suggest some young people are at risk of adverse psychosocial impacts. Given the rise in the incidence of diabetes globally, there is a pressing public health need to conduct more rigorously designed studies to ascertain the extent to which young people are at risk of mental and physical health problems and to identify risk and protective factors associated with youth adjustment in the context of parental diabetes. What's new?: Although diabetes, like other serious medical conditions, impacts family members, with young offspring being particularly vulnerable, this review identified only 10 studies meeting our inclusion criteria that examined the adjustment of young people to parental type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This is the first systematic review of research on the psychosocial outcomes in young people whose parents have type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It identified research gaps and methodological issues to be addressed by future studies in this field. In view of the dearth of research in this area, it is not possible to draw robust evidenced‐based conclusions about young people's psychosocial adjustment to parental diabetes; however, there was weak evidence suggesting some young people are at risk of adjustment difficulties in the context of parental diabetes, which warrants the attention of future research.