Adolescent diabetes management and mismanagement.

OBJECTIVE

To document the existence and prevalence of adolescent-generated diabetes management techniques.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

One hundred forty-four adolescents completed the confidential questionnaire developed for this study. Glycohemoglobin was also obtained for each individual.

RESULTS

Within the 10 days before their clinic visit, many adolescents admitted to engaging in various mismanagement behaviors, with 25% admitting to missing shots. Parents tend to underestimate adolescent mismanagement. Missing shots was significantly related to poor control (P < 0.01). Older adolescents engaged in more mismanagement than their younger cohorts (P < 0.001). The questionnaire factored into two subscales: blatant mismanagement and faking.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows the importance of recognizing the prevalence of mismanagement among adolescents.