Health Practices and Quality of Life among Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Type I diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disorder in children. The present study was aimed to assess the health practices and determine the quality of life among children with Type I diabetes mellitus, to find out the correlation between their health practices and quality of life and the association between quality of life and selected sociodemographic and clinical variables. Health promotion model was adopted for the study. This cross sectional study was conducted among 80 children with Type I diabetes mellitus who belonged to the age group of 6 to 18 years and their caregivers who were selected consecutively from the Mittayi clinic of a tertiary care centre in Alappuzha. Health practices were good in 82.5% children. The practice scores were lowest in dietary practices (79.3 %) and highest in follow up (98.1 %). Quality of life was good among 57.5% children with type I diabetes mellitus. A significant positive correlation was found between the health practices and quality of life of children with type I diabetes mellitus (r=0.306, p=0.006). Health practices were positively correlated with the domains of quality of life such as role limitation, treatment satisfaction, emotional satisfaction, diet satisfaction and physical endurance. A significant association was found between the quality of life of children with type I diabetes mellitus and family history of diabetes mellitus and duration of illness. Quality of life of children with type I diabetes mellitus can be enhanced by improving the health practices among them.Keywords: Children with Type I Diabetes Mellitus, Health practices, Quality of life.