There is an unmet treatment need for depressed adolescents with type 1 diabetes. To address this unmet need, we have designed a new, family-based, cognitive-behavioral intervention to reduce depressive symptoms, improve family functioning, and improve medication compliance. The intervention is delivered in two phases (1 - reduction of depressive symptoms and family conflict, 2 - adherence promotion) as efforts to improve adherence will have a greater likelihood of success if individual and family functioning variables are addressed first. To test the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing depressive symptoms and improving adherence, we will conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing this new intervention to usual care in a sample of fifty-two adolescents with type 1 diabetes and their primary caregivers. Given the absence of this type of intervention and the significance of the problem, this study is timely and important, as it has the potential to positively impact diabetes-specific health outcomes.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Participants will engage in ten weekly sessions aimed at improving depressive symptoms and medication compliance via reducing family conflict and improving communication among family members.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Children's Depression Inventory (CDI)-Measure of adolescent depressive symptoms
Time frame: Assessed at 0, 1.5, 3, and 6 months after enrollment
Diabetes-Related Family Conflict Scale (DFCS)-Measure of family conflict around diabetes-specific tasks
Time frame: Assessed at 0, 1.5, 3, and 6 months from enrollment
Hemoglobin A1c value
Time frame: Obtained at 0, 3, and 6 months after enrollment
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