Home psychotherapy helps teens control diabetes
By Megan RauscherThu Jul 7,11:16 AM ET

Adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes do better with a program of
intensive, home-based, family-centered psychotherapy, according to new
research.

Teens with type 1 diabetes, which requires regular insulin injections and
careful monitoring of blood sugar levels, have been considered "very
difficult to manage clinically," Dr. Deborah A. Ellis told Reuters Health.
"Our study showed that families were willing to receive behavioral treatment
when it was provided in their home and that such intensive behavioral
interventions can result in improved outcomes," she said.

In their study, reported in the journal Diabetes Care, Ellis from Wayne
State University in Detroit and colleagues randomly assigned 127 adolescents
with a history of poorly controlled type 1 diabetes to standard medical care
only or to standard medical care plus 6 months of an intervention targeting
problems related to adherence to diabetes treatment.

The behavioral intervention was successful in improving diabetes control,
the team reports. Average long-term blood sugar control improved to a degree
that was both statistically significant and clinically meaningful, Ellis and
colleagues note.

The strategy led to more frequent blood glucose testing. "Frequent testing
of blood glucose has been linked to better metabolic control and may
therefore account for the improvements in metabolic control experienced by
the group," the investigators write.

This study shows that home-based therapy "holds promise in improving the
diabetes management and metabolic control of adolescents," the team
concludes, but they point out that longer follow up is needed to see whether
the effects are long-lasting.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, July 2005