It Takes a Village: Helping Families Live With Diabetes

Abstract

In Brief To develop individualized goals of therapy for youth with diabetes, an awareness is needed that diabetes both affects and is affected by normal child and adolescent growth and development, as well as by family functioning and dynamics. However, it takes more than the health care team and family members to succeed at managing a child’s or adolescent’s diabetes. This article offers ideas to empower the families of young people with diabetes through multidisciplinary community support from schools, camps, health care teams, and research-driven programs.