Parental care experience of children with type 1 diabetes: a qualitative meta-synthesis.

OBJECTIVE

To assess qualitative studies on parents' caregiving experiences whose children have T1DM and develop personalized support strategies based on the findings.

METHOD

A systematic review with meta-synthesis performed in the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, VIP, and Wanfang databases. Quality was assessed via the JBI criteria, and meta-aggregative method was applied to categorize the results into subtopics and aggregate into three interrelated meta-topics to understand parents' caregiving experiences.

RESULTS

In total, 2,100 articles were found, out of which 15 were selected and analyzed. The identified three meta-topics were "Parents facing multiple physical, mental and life challenges", "Parents' lack of a full range of external support" and "Parents' caregiving role competency enhanced to adjust to the new life".

CONCLUSION

it is critical for healthcare professionals to recognize these parental experiences and offer targeted knowledge, skills training, and psychological support tailored to their needs, including group training, online mindfulness interventions, and improved empathy from the medical team.