DEPRESSION OF CHILDREN WITH DIABETES
DEPRESSION OF CHILDREN WITH DIABETES

Author(s): Nada Vaselić, Gordana Bukara-Radujković, Mira Spremo
Contributor(s): Sanja Malić (Translator)
Subject(s): Psychology of Self, Clinical psychology, Behaviorism, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Akademija Nauka i Umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine
Keywords: diabetes Type 1; children; depression; prevention; metabolic control;
Summary/Abstract: Diabetes is chronic condition of children with increase of incidence in our area. The aim of this paper is to examine depression of children with diabetes in relation to their healthy peers. The sample includes 104 participants, from 10 to 15 years of age. Clinical sample includes 52 children with diabetes type 1, and comparative sample of 52 children without diabetes. Data was collected using general information questionnaire and CDI (Children’s Depression Inventory) (1). Data analysis was performed by means of descriptive statistics, parametric and non-paramatric statistical techniques. Results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference between the degrees of depression in clinical and control group (Factorial Analysis of Variance, F=2.78, p=.10). Within the clinical sample, no difference was found neither between depression and metabolic regulation of glycaemia through the value of hemoglobin HbA1c (Mann-Whitney U test, Mdn=291, p=.56), nor between depression and the period of duration of diabetes (Kruskal-Wallis test, c2=1.97, p=.37). Conclusion: children with diabetes do not differ in degree of depression from their peers in general population. Especially vulnerable period for occurrence of depression is time interval between 3 and 5 years from the diabetes diagnosis, thus this period should be in focus of targeted and more intensive psychological intervention aimed at prevention of depression and other mental disorders.

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