• Item type: Guideline/policy recommendation
• Language: English
• Author: Diana W. Guthrie, Christos Bartsocas, Przemyslawa Jarosz-Chabot, and Maia Konstantinova
• Target audience: All health professionals
• Publication Date: Jan, 2003
• http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/16/1/7

The psychosocial impact of diabetes in childhood is ubiquitous and involves the entire family, as well as schools and society as a whole. The International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) developed guidelines in 2000 to assist health professionals in the management of young people with diabetes. These guidelines are based on the St. Vincent Declaration, the Declaration of Kos, and the Declaration of the Americas, which define the rights of all people with diabetes and focus on significant areas of responsibility for those involved in the care of diabetic children and adolescents.                  

This article addresses and expands the section of the ISPAD guidelines dealing with psychosocial issues in children and adolescents with diabetes in order to aid in the diabetes management decision-making process. The goal of both this article and the ISPAD guidelines is to aid in the development of diabetic children into well-adjusted adults with the highest possible degree of diabetes control.