Evaluation of Stress, Anxiety and Depression in Parents with a Child Newly Diagnosed with Diabetes Type I

Background Diabetes type I (DTI) is one of the most common endocrine disorders during childhood and adolescents in which has strong impact on physical and emotional development of individuals with family members. We aimed to evaluate of stress, anxiety and depression in parents with DTI child compared with parents with healthy child. Materials and Methods In this case – control study, 60 parents of patients with type 1 diabetes, who had referred to the endocrine clinic of Ali Asghar hospital in Zahedan city and the same number of parents with healthy children, who had referred to the hospital for their children's routine checkup, as control group (n=60), were studied. Depression, anxiety and stress was measurement by Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 42 (DASS). Data were analyzed using SPSS-16. Results Mean age of children was 6.3 ± 3.6 years. In this study, the score and rate of depression in parents of children with diabetes type I was 21.4 ± 13.8 and 75.4%, respectively. The scores of depression, anxiety and stress in parents of children with DTI were 21.4 + 13.8, 18.8 + 11.3 and 27.1 + 11.5 respectively. Also, the scores of depression, anxiety and stress in parents with healthy children were 14.8 ± 11.3, 8.7 ± 6.9 and 15.8 ± 9.3, respectively; and these scores was significantly lower in control group (P<0.05). Six months later of the diagnosis, depression, anxiety and stress did not changed in parents of patients with diabetes type I (P>0.05). Conclusion Diabetes in children is a stressful event that can affect the public health of parents. Parents of children who diagnosed with DTI, are at risk for experiencing anxiety, depression and stress.