Abstract
IntroductionNowadays, the life satisfaction and the adherence to diabetes management tasks of young adults with type 1 diabetes can be increasingly affectedby the change and instability at several levels, throughout early adulthood, namely social, occupational, familiar and emotional. AimsThe objectives targeted the evaluation of lifestyles and health behaviours, social support, satisfaction with life and treatment adherence of young adults with type 1 diabetes. MethodsThis research was developed with young adults with type 1 diabetes that attended diabetes consultations. This study included a quantitative analysis of questionnaires filled in by 278 young adults with type 1 diabetes, ranging between 18 and 35 years old. ResultsYoung adults consider having a good social support, from family, friends, peers and health care providers.Satisfaction with life is scored at 6.6±1.7 (on a scale 0‐10).Factorial analysis relating life‘s satisfaction scale allowed to find 2 factors that explain 75% of total variance: quality of life (58%) and changes’ expectations (17%).Most of young adults show good adherence to dietary intake (83%), insulin therapy (83%) and glucose monitoring (73%), but only one third practice recommended physical activity. We verified positive statistically significant correlation between adherence to nutrition, insulin therapy and glucose monitoring.Youngsters present 8.7±1.6% as mean value for HbA1c. The highest levels of HbA1c are related to less frequent glucose monitoring and less insulin administration. ConclusionsThe young adults with type 1 diabetes presented good social support and satisfaction with life. Nevertheless, despite a reasonable adherence to diabetes treatment and a healthy lifestyle, metabolic control is unsatisfactory, A qualitative research with focus groups is being developed to better understand and address these discrepancies.
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