Self-care of teenagers with type 1 diabetes mellitus from primary health care

Abstract

Introduction: Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus is commonly diagnosed in children and adolescents and may present complications due to the daily difficulty of performing self-care practices. Objective: to know the adherence to self-care practices performed by adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Primary Health Care in a municipality in Minas Gerais. Objective: to know the adherence to self-care practices performed by adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Primary Health Care in a municipality in Minas Gerais. Materials and Method: descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study carried out with 26 adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus in exclusive follow-up in Primary Health Care. Sociodemographic variables, time since diagnosis of diabetes, frequency of insulin therapy, application difficulties, person responsible for administering insulin and self-care were evaluated. Results: among the participants, 12 (46.15%) had been living with the disease for more than five years, the frequency of insulin application was greater than three times a day in 11 (42.31%) and 22 (84.62%) %) claimed to be responsible for the application, 24 (92.31%) denied difficulties with the administration technique and 16 (61.54%) stated forgetting with the application. Regarding self-care, 15 (57.70%) adolescents obtained a score lower than five points, indicating low adherence to self-care practices. When associating this variable with the time since diagnosis, it was found that adolescents with diabetes for more than five years have good adherence (p=0.154). Conclusions: adolescents have low adherence to self-care practices, but as the diagnosis time increases, this situation reverses, improving adherence.