Brief report: In-home family therapy for adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes: Failure to maintain benefits at 6-month follow-up

Michael A. Harris, Brandonn S. Harris, Deborah Mertlich

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20 Scopus citations

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)683-688
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Pediatric Psychology
Volume30
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2005

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Diabetes
  • Family therapy

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