None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Adolescents with type 1 diabetes are at an increased risk for psychiatric disorders, in part due to the challenges and stress involved with managing a complex chronic illness. We would like to examine the effects of an 8-week gratitude intervention on levels of stress, depression, quality of life, gratitude, self-care behaviours and glycaemic control in 80 youth aged 10-16 with type 1 diabetes. We will also measure parental stress to examine whether the intervention has an indirect effect on parents' wellbeing (parents n=80). Participants will be recruited from the the diabetes outpatient clinic at Greenlane Clinical Centre, Auckland. Once participants have consented/assented to participate and completed baseline questionnaires, they will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or control group. If they are in the intervention group they will be given a gratitude journal to fill out every day for 8 weeks. This contains a heading of "List 3 things you are thankful for" on every page. At the time of recruitment, participants will be asked to complete the baseline questionnaires and then again eight weeks later to examine change from baseline to follow-up. Glycaemic control (HbA1c) is collected as part of standard care and we will examine changes from baseline to three months after baseline.
Interventions
The study is a randomized controlled trial where participants will be randomly allocated either to write in a gratitude journal for eight weeks (treatment group) or standard care (control group).. The participants in the treatment group will be asked to list three things they are grateful for in their journal on a daily basis. Intervention fidelity will be assessed by asking the participants in the treatment group after the 8-weeks how often they wrote in their journal.
Sponsors
The University of Auckland
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
10 Years to 16 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Adolescents will be eligible for inclusion in the intervention if they meet the following criteria: (1) are aged 10-16 years, and (2) diagnosed with type 1 diabetes more than 6 months ago.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria include: (1) non-English speaking adolescents, (2) children with developmental disorders (e.g. Autism Spectrum Disorder), and (3) children diagnosed with a serious mental disorder requiring ongoing treatment (e.g. psychosis, eating disorders). The only exclusion criteria for parents/primary caregivers is that they are able to complete forms in English and provide informed consent.
Outcome results
None listed