Family Nursing

Biography

Biography: Ase Boman

Abstract

In the project “Diabetes coach” parents of children with well-functioning self-care of type-1 diabetes (T1D) have been recruited as coaches with the aim to support parents (project parents) of newly diagnosed children with T1D in their everyday life. When a child is diagnosed with T1D each family member and the family unit is intimately involved and the child’s health depends on how well the family manage the situation. Guidance was given to both coaching parents and project parents in repeated focus group discussions. The sub-aim was to describe the parents’ process of giving and receiving support and describing obstacles and opportunities in supporting. The coach and the project parents met nine respectively six times. The coach parents argued their participation as a wish to offer the support they had needed themselves in the acute situation. Further they wanted to learn more about the disease and thereby enable their child better health. Obstacles in the process were unclear information when being recruited, difficulties in remaining contact with the project parents, language difficulties and other social problems in the project family. Opportunities were a two-sided learning process and the group-dynamic enabled support and information within the group. The project parents problematized the initial offer of coaching. Their needs were initially support in the first chaos, normalizing their new life and support in their proceeding everyday life. Their final goal was to become a coach parent as a proof of their knowledge and skills.