Abstract
BackgroundIn the treatment of childhood type 1 diabetes, being aware of the parents’ fear of hypoglycemia is important, since the parents’ fear may influence the management of treatment and the children’s blood glucose regulation. The availability of proper instruments to assess the parents’ fear of hypoglycemia is essential. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey – Parent version (HFS-P).MethodsIn a Norwegian population-based sample, 176 parents representing 102 children with type 1 diabetes (6–15 years old) completed the HFS-P, comprising a 15-item worry subscale and a 10-item behavior subscale. We performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and further analysis of the scales’ construct validity, content validity and reliability.ResultsThe Norwegian version of the HFS-P had an acceptable factor structure and internal consistency for the worry subscale, whereas the structure and internal consistency of the behavior subscale was more questionable. The HFS-P subscales were significantly correlated (from moderately to weakly) with symptoms of emotional distress, as measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist – 25 items. The mothers scored higher than fathers on both HFS-P subscales, but the difference was not statistically significant for the worry subscale.ConclusionsThe HFS-P worry subscale seems to be a valid scale for measuring anxiety-provoking aspects of hypoglycemia, and the validity of the HFS-P behavior subscale needs to be investigated further.
Highlights
In the treatment of childhood type 1 diabetes, being aware of the parents’ fear of hypoglycemia is important, since the parents’ fear may influence the management of treatment and the children’s blood glucose regulation
Some studies [6,9,11] have identified an association between parental fear of hypoglycemia and poor glycemic control among children with type 1 diabetes
While some of the items in the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey (HFS)-P might not be appropriate for the parents of the youngest children [8], the present validation study did not include parents of children younger than 6 years
Summary
In the treatment of childhood type 1 diabetes, being aware of the parents’ fear of hypoglycemia is important, since the parents’ fear may influence the management of treatment and the children’s blood glucose regulation. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey – Parent version (HFS-P). Hypoglycemia is one of the most common acute complications in insulin-treated diabetes [1] and is indicated to be an important limiting factor for glycemic control in type 1 diabetes [2,3]. Some studies [6,9,11] have identified an association between parental fear of hypoglycemia and poor glycemic control among children with type 1 diabetes. An association between parental fear of hypoglycemia and poor glycemic control may indicate that the parents’ fear causes long-term negative health effects among children with type 1 diabetes. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the HFS-P, including its factor structure, in a population-based study among both the mothers and the fathers of children with type 1 diabetes in Norway
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