Factors influencing illness acceptance in young people with type 1 diabetes

Abstract

Adolescents and young adults struggle to form a social identity with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. This impacts their ability to accept the disease, leaving the group particularly vulnerable to poor health outcomes. This study investigated the relationships between disease-specific stigma, resilience, illness representations, and type 1 diabetes acceptance. It was hypothesised that low perceived stigma, high resilience, and subsequent positive illness representations would predict higher diabetes acceptance. A cross-sectional online survey was disseminated via social media platforms, recruiting 25 participants (F=18) aged 18-25 (M=21.96), with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. The Type 1 Diabetes Social Stigma Scale, Brief Resilience Scale, Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire, and Diabetes Acceptance Scale were used. Low perceived stigma and high resilience significantly predicted less threatening illness representations (adj. R2 .628; p < .001). Low perceived stigma, high resilience, and less threatening illness representations significantly predicted high diabetes acceptance (adj. R2 .413; p = .003). Implications include interventions to improve illness perceptions. Suggested mechanisms include improving individual resilience, as well as targeting both public stigmata surrounding diabetes generally and type 1 specifically, and perceived stigma at the individual level. Future research is recommended to investigate the other explanatory factors in the tested models.