Parental Illness Perceptions in Type 1 Diabetes and JIA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Parental Illness Perceptions in Type 1 Diabetes and JIA
IRAS ID
216483
Contact name
Madeline Harris
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 25 days
Research summary
The ‘common sense model’ (CSM; Leventhal, Meyer, & Nerenz, 1980) suggests the thoughts a person holds around their illness will influence how they cope with it. This model is well supported in individuals (Hagger & Orbell, 2003; Paschalides et al., 2004) but does not take into account the effect of the perceptions a person’s family holds of the illness. These are particularly important for children and young people, as families share the management of chronic health conditions. Some work has shown illness perceptions held by a family are linked with familial management of the health condition (Årestedt, Benzein, & Persson, 2015). In addition, parental illness perceptions have been associated with parents’ psychological health (Gatzoyia et al., 2014), which in turn is linked to their child’s physical health outcomes (Whittemore, Jaser, Chao, Jang, & Grey, 2012).
This study hopes to find out whether the illness perceptions of parents of young people with chronic health conditions differ dependent on the condition their child has. Clinically, gaining further information about parental illness representations is an important next step in shaping the support health services provide for families.
Participants will be parents of young people with either type 1 diabetes or juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The project will be recruited via their child’s medical clinic and participants will complete an online set of questionnaires about their perceptions of their child’s illness and their wellbeing. Answers from parents of children with type 1 diabetes will be compared with those of parents of children with JIA to understand the similarities and differences between these conditions.
This research is not externally funded and will form part of the thesis to achieve a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology with the University of Bath.
REC name
London - West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0361
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion