Article
Fathers of Children and Adolescents With Diabetes: What Do We Know?

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Knowing how fathers contribute to child outcomes is critical in the clinical management of children who have type 1 diabetes. The purposes of this review were to synthesize what is known about the role of fathers and to determine directions for future research. Research studies that reported findings that encompassed fathers' perceptions, knowledge, coping and adjustment, and behavior in relation to their children with type 1 diabetes were reviewed. Research suggests that, although fathers are usually not the primary caregiver or manager of the routine day-to-day care, their contribution to the family through perceptions, knowledge, adjustment, and behavior may be associated with important disease management outcomes.

Section snippets

Method

The integrative review, based on updated methodology proposed by Whittemore and Knafl (2005), began with a search for the literature that addressed fathers of youth with type 1 diabetes. A search of published studies was implemented through the following databases: Academic Search Premier, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, PsycARTICLES, and PsycINFO. The databases were

Childhood Adjustment

Different aspects of fathers' perceptions have been addressed, including children's adjustment (Eiser et al., 1992), family functioning (Auslander et al., 1993, Lawler et al., 1990, Standen et al., 1985), and diabetes management (Dashiff, 2003, Gavin & Wysocki, 2006, Hatton et al., 1995, Leonard et al., 1997, Standen et al., 1985, Sullivan-Bolyai et al., 2004, Wysocki & Gavin, 2004). Eiser et al. (1992) found that British fathers' ratings of children's adjustment to chronic diseases, including

Conclusions

Although fathers are usually not reported to be the primary caregiver or manager of the routine day-to-day care, their contribution to the family has shown associations with disease management outcomes. When addressed in research about healthy children's adjustment, fathers have been characterized primarily as being a positive influence on child development (Caplan & Hall-McCorquodale, 1985); however, this has not been the case in research on type 1 diabetes. Few studies have investigated

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