What might motivate teenage diabetics?

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Twitchy

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
OK, following the many responses to "The Hospital" the other night, I find myself humming the Honda tune "hate something, change something, hate something change something make something bettaaaaa" 😛 .... so whilst in a positive frame of mind, I was wondering what could be done that might help motivate teenagers like those shown in the documentary? If we assume that the empty waiting rooms for the teens-only 6 monthly clinic were a fair representation of a typical clinic, that's clearly not doing the job...so what might?

From what I could see (just a personal opinion), the main obstacles to those young peoples taking better care seemed to be:

- Poor support at home
- Lack of diabetes education (ie not understanding that testing 'when I feel need to' doesn't work)
- Not wanting to be the odd bod out amongst their 'friends'
- Defiance / denial of how serious their situation really is.

With these in mind, what might work? What has helped the parents on our forum be so supportive? How do you get a teen interested in their diabetes? How can we get teen diabetics to feel acceptable & normal whilst being open about their diabetes? What motivated those of us who've been through the teen years to focus?

It just seems to me that we have people from all walks of life, from all across the country, so maybe if we can find some examples of 'best practice' that work we can maybe try & communicate them to our hospitals?? It just seems such a shame to sit & watch & tut / sigh / cry & then forget...

Thoughts anyone?... 😱
 
There are probably many things that could be done but the I think the first thing to be done is education.......

11 years I have been diagnosed but only in the last years have I discovered what is going on inside me.........

When this becomes clear, I believe the urge to find the answers, in terms of diabetic control comes naturally..........

Courses like DAFNE are essential and should be compulsory (type 1)


But education is not enough when there are broken homes, poverty, and many others factors.....
 
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I think from watching, that a mentor/buddy call it what you like, may help. I would volunteer.
However it would have to be portrayed in a more of a friendship kind of way. So not lecturing, partonising etc, but at the same time not weak either. I found the nurse on the prog a bit wet.
I got the feeling that none were looking for sympathy but were looking for a mate who understood and were "living the condition", unlike the Dr's.
We need to show those who need help, that we and they can fit-in and see no reason why we can't live normal lives, which includes all the things that the teenagers enjoy. Pub's, clubs, restaruants nights out with friends, sports activities etc, and when off the track, how to get back on it.
It must also be reinforced that we are all not goody two shoed angels who always get it right but have a balance between enjoyment and the avoidance of complications.
 
I didn't see the programme, but I think one starting point my be better education or more education for the people who make a difference.
 
We cant judge people by their background e.g broken home. Im a single mum and Im giving Carly all I can do and more, I feel she is better off with just me as her father wouldn't be able to cope, also there is much less stress at home without any arguments or fights between the parents which is the best for her.
I agreed that the parents of these teenagers from 'The Hospital' should do a lot more, be more involved with their diabetes. One of the parents said "I left it to her, I don't know how to do it" that was so unbelieveable. Its already hard enough for them growing into teenagers, they all need support and help from the family and friends.
These kids should go on hoilday or breaks with other diabetics provided from Diabetes UK, then they wouldn't feel left out from the group. I am sure Diabetes UK will support these who are worse off.
 
Ruth Goode said:
We cant judge people by their background e.g broken home. Im a single mum and Im giving Carly all I can do and more, I feel she is better off with just me as her father wouldn't be able to cope, also there is much less stress at home without any arguments or fights between the parents which is the best for her.
I agreed that the parents of these teenagers from 'The Hospital' should do a lot more, be more involved with their diabetes. One of the parents said "I left it to her, I don't know how to do it" that was so unbelieveable. Its already hard enough for them growing into teenagers, they all need support and help from the family and friends.
These kids should go on hoilday or breaks with other diabetics provided from Diabetes UK, then they wouldn't feel left out from the group. I am sure Diabetes UK will support these who are worse off.
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I'm single too however most of these teens on this programme had no support at home so it is a background issue I believe big time. I think it is the way they are brought or dragged up, the lifestyle of the family as a whole. I think the parents, whether there be one or two, have a lot to answer for.

These kids and the parents wouldn't go on the DUK holidays even if they were subsidized, believe me I know many many people and families like this that just wouldn't bother even if free. They are too interested in what they do on a day to day basis even if it means hanging around the park.

I have no answer to any of this, education would be great but you have to get the people to the place where the education is and it won't be these people who go, it will be the ones who want to learn, these kids and their parents don't want to learn.

We had a case once where a family were in a court room and their child was 10 years old and type 1 and they had no idea if he had had his insulin or not on most days and they certainly didn't make him test his BG on a daily basis ! This is all normal lives to them, they aren't like us looking for answers or better things.

I have no idea how this can be dealt with, it is so much bigger than just diabetes which I know is hard to say but it is true and extremely sad.
 
I like the idea of a mentor/buddy system on a one to one basis but the kid would have to relate to the person and yes on a friendly basis rather than a lecture one.
 
When saying broken home i was targetting teenagers who ultimately are responsible for thier own diabetes..............and struggle because there is a lack of support from other faily members..........
 
Ruth. I kind of support what you are suggesting, but given that DB UK would appear to the teenagers as "The establishsment", I think we need to explore other alternatives. The DB holiday is DB exclusive. They are good for young pre teens, but it's not Ibiza with their mates and what they want is inclusion into their own social circles but at the same time, to know how to manage this in the best way for their health. We have to find a way of making this a cool thing to do/have.
So the question is, how do we make diabetes the Jimmy Choo of conditions for the girls and the Aston Martin for the boys. In other words desirable, without pushing people to want to be diagnosed by leading to unhealthy lifestyles.
Do we need more main stream exposure from our society role models. i.e Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Steve Redgrave etc.

Difficult one.
 
I really like the idea of a diabetes buddy / peer mentor type thing - I think that kind of support could really work well in many stages of diabetic life! 🙂 I'd volunteer to be a buddy (not sure I'm cool enough though! 😉)

I did go on one duk holiday when a kid, but found it a bit intimidating - not sure whether that was because it was so much about the big D or whether it was the older kids there though... I do hear good things about the ones they run these days though...

I think more positive role models would be great - not sure how we get the positives exposed (as it were) though?...

I wonder if when diagnosed if the hospitals made a point of keeping teens admittied for a bit longer (few days?), to give them some DAFNE style training, if that would help? From some of the diagnosis stories I've read on here before it seems it can be a bit diagnose, get on insulin, boot out... (or for T2s, diagnose, dietry advice, boot out! Either way, a bit of a dump in the deep end!) I know when I did DAFNE they said they won't let people who haven't been diabetic for under a year do it, I think because of dawn phenom, but surely a good basic (but perhaps more thorough) training would be beneficial? :confused:
 
maybe the honeymoon period as opposed to dawn phenomonon, as I suffer from dawn and will continue to do so, as long as my HbA1c keeps coming down I can tolerate it........
 
D'oh, of course, sorry - typing whilst baby getting stroppy because I'm not entertaining her well enough! 😱 Thanks for correcting that! 🙂 Right, baby-wrangling time!...
 
Im constantly making mistakes on here...........go get that baby!!!!!!🙂
 
So OK, we all want to help, and regardless as to what form this takes, are we actually going to do somthing about it? How do we get to those, similar to those in the programme? If they don't attend clinics and perhaps not even the GP surgery when which medium to we choose. FB/Twitter etc?
Can we have some input from someone of our target age please.

If meeting someone in a cafe or pub for a pint or a coffee kicks off a discussion then I am all up for this as a starter for 10. I am guessing that like me, I would want to get to know someone before I have a DB conversation, and hence the aim of our suggestions. This is not just about DB but providing the ability to talk to someone who has been there done that.
 
I agree with the others that education is important.

When I was a teenager, I went through a fairly extended period of not really testing. I think there are several factors that resulted in this, and I definitely take responsibility for not testing. Some of the reasons were that I was on mixtard at the time, and I'd never been shown how to adjust it. A big part of it was guilt - like one of the girls on the programme said, she'd test for a bit and then get depressed when she saw an high number and then stop. I know I definitely did that, because it would feel like I'd been 'bad' if my numbers were high (although I attribute at least some of that feeling to consultants who pretty much told me high numbers were my fault), and also there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't change my insulin, and I didn't even possess any quick acting insulin, never mind understand about correction factors. I'd think "well, what's the point of testing?" and stop.

I think that it's important to help teenagers feel that they can achieve some sense of control over their numbers, that there is something they can do if they're high. I also think that blaming people and assuming they won't change isn't a way forward. Helping people to understand why their numbers might go up or down, and what to do about it would go a long way. Another thing that I think would help is meeting other people who are diabetic. I wonder how much of the problem is to do with confidence. The whole thing with not wanting to be different is very common, and maybe some kind of way to help them realise that it's actually not such a bad thing would help?
 
I think the only way to do this is to write to the consultant at your local hospital and we could have a standard letter that we write between us actually, and say can they set you up with a teen they know if having a bad time. They cannot give you the teens number though so the only way to do it is if they give the teen your number and then whether the teen rings you or not, well that is the big question isn't it. They aren't likely to or are they, do they really need help but don't know how to ask as their parents are naff !!!!!!
 
DAFNE DAFNE DAFNE...................

I cant be sure how long this has been out, a good few years anyway, long after most of us grown ups were diagnosed.....

The sooner its rolled out across the country (europe) the better......
 
Well I have a good email rapport with my GP having ditched the hospital DB clinic as it was useless, and the GP's runs their own DB clinic too.
I have no problem in emailing him and making the buddy offer and seeing how much of a local response I get. I think the standard letter would help for country wide consistency, and in making reference to the programme with a Youtube link.
I have aslo notice that this site is supported by DB UK. Is there any media link we can exploit here.
 
Sounds to me like a social organisation like Circle-D would be good, but directed at the age group younger than the current 18-30s. From what I've seen, Circle D works really well and all the members have just as much fun socialising as non-Ds, whilst at the same time being amongst others with varying experiences and attitudes to their diabetes.
 
I think that education is great but you have actually got to get people to go on these courses. Plenty of people don't want to spend that much time learning about diabetes. If you can't get people to turn up for a regular appointment then you aren't going to get them on a course.

I really wish i knew the answer to this,
 
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