Paternal contribution to disease care in parenting a child with type 1 diabetes

Psychological symptoms burden in mothers of children with type 1 diabetes is well documented. Fathers, however, have received little attention in terms of the manifestations of stress on their mental and physical well-being. Father participation in disease care and its effects on mother and child well-being is a new and emerging area. This study examined the constructs of pediatric parenting stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, marital satisfaction, and sleep in both mothers and fathers of children with type 1 diabetes, as they relate to fathers' perceived involvement in disease care. This study also examined the impact of paternal involvement on diabetes regimen adherence and glycemic control in children with type 1 diabetes. A group of 82 mothers and 43 fathers, including 36 mother/father dyads, completed questionnaires. Multivariate linear regressions were conducted separately in mothers and fathers to determine the impact of perceived amount and helpfulness of father involvement in child diabetes care. Maternal perception of father helpfulness in disease care, along with male child gender, was related to improved marital satisfaction in mothers. Maternal perception of amount of father involvement was also related to improved marital satisfaction. Also, maternal perception of father helpfulness was related to decreased maternal depressive symptoms. In fathers, perception of their own amount of involvement was positively related to their experience of both frequency and difficulty of pediatric parenting stress. Father perception of amount of involvement, along with lower educational attainment, was also related to greater paternal anxiety. Maternal report of greater helpfulness of involvement was related to increased diabetes regimen adherence. Father perception of paternal helpfulness in disease care was related to poorer glycemic control in the child. These findings support the importance of paternal contribution to child diabetes care in psychosocial outcomes for both mothers and fathers, as well as disease outcomes in children with type 1 diabetes.