Abstract
Objective: To examine 6-month follow-up data on the effectiveness of in-home Behavioral Family Systems Therapy (BFST) for adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes, using a pilot and feasibility study. Methods: Eighteen adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes received ten 90-min sessions of in-home BFST. Diabetes-related functioning, general family functioning, and health status were assessed at baseline, immediately following treatment and 6-months after the treatment. Results: Although the initial posttreatment follow-up evaluation indicated decreases in general family conflict, diabetes-related family conflict, and behavior problems, evaluation at a 6-month follow-up (N = 17) demonstrated that initial posttreatment improvements were no longer present for any of the variables assessed. Metabolic control remained unchanged from baseline to initial posttreatment as well as at 6-month follow-up. Conclusions: A plausible explanation for this finding is that participating families were experiencing distress that required longer-term treatment for enduring results, beyond what was employed in this study. Further research is necessary before in-home BFST can be considered an effective psychosocial intervention for adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 683-688 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Pediatric Psychology |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2005 |
Keywords
- Adolescents
- Diabetes
- Family therapy