Self-evaluation and Self-esteem in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the most common childhood endocrine disease. Treatment of the disease is complex and includes lifestyle modification, self-monitoring, insulin administration and regular physical activity. After starting school, children gradually become aware of their differences from their peers, which together with other factors can affect their self-evaluation. Hence, in the present study we focused on the influence of self-evaluation on the degree of compensation in children with type 1 DM.Methods: The sample consisted of 64 parents of 6-12-yearold children that are regularly treated in the Diabetology Outpatient Clinic of the Children’s Diabetes Centre. To obtain the data, a self-assessment questionnaire was used. To verify the hypotheses, statistical methods were used: the chi-square test (verifying the relationship between nominal data and verifying the differences between the compared groups), the Student’s t-test (a comparison of mean values), and the F-test (a comparison of variances). Results: The relationship between children’s difficulties at school and the occurrence of acute complications was found in the sample of this study. The relationship between difficulties at school and the frequency of hospitalisations of children with type 1 DM was confirmed. Conclusions: The present study suggests there is a relationship between difficulties of children with DM in the school environment and the occurrence of acute complications or hospitalisations of children with DM. Thus, nursing interventions should be aimed at improving self-esteem to achieve the desired compensation of DM.