Caregivers in Focus: Quality of Life, Sleep, and Well-Being of Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the quality of life, sleep, and well-being of caregivers of youth with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D). METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study applied to the caregivers of youth with T1D. The WHOQOL-BREF, PSQI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and PWI (Personal Well-being Index) questionnaires were used, applied to 25 caregivers. The data were analyzed using SPSS software and Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: The study revealed that 90% of primary caregivers are mothers. In the PWI questionnaire, 44% of participants reported "normal" personal well-being levels, 36% "compromised," and 20% "challenging." The sleep quality assessment showed an average of 6.14 hours of sleep per night, with 30.4% rating their sleep as "very poor." In the WHOQOL-BREF, the "environment" and "social relationships" domains scored the highest, while the "psychological" and "physical" domains had the lowest scores. CONCLUSIONS: We found that a large portion of caregivers experience insufficient sleep, wake up frequently during the night, and have difficulties falling asleep, which negatively impacts their ability to perform daily activities. Caregiver dissatisfaction regarding sexual life, interpersonal relationships, and received support was also a frequent finding. Furthermore, in the psychological domain of the quality of life assessment, there was a higher prevalence of negative feelings, although the highest scores in this domain were related to the sense of life and acceptance of physical appearance. The situation of being a caregiver for a child with diabetes was perceived as challenging or compromised by more than half of the caregivers in our study.