Iranian diabetic adolescent girls' quality of life: perspectives on barriers

Introduction: Diabetes with permanent changes in a person's life-style has negative effects on adolescent quality of life (QoL) too. Diabetes may afflict men and women equally, but the suffering associated with the disease when it appears in an adolescent girl will have disastrous effects on her life. If we want to improve the QoL for girls with the disease, then being familiar with the barrier factors for a good QoL is important. Aim: To explore Iranian diabetic adolescent girls' perspective on barriers of having a good QoL. Methods: A qualitative design using content analysis was applied in order to seek the purpose. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 adolescent girls with Type 1 diabetes. The participants were recruited by purposeful sampling of 'West Azerbaijan Diabetes Association' members as well as some patients in Uremia city hospitals. Findings: Qualitative content analysis demonstrated two original category from effective barriers on good QoL: (1) external world barriers on good QoL (problems in family, social perspective about diabetes and problems in school), (2) Individual barriers on good QoL (negative feeling toward treatment and care, negative effects of Diabetes and uncertainty about future). Also it was shown that, cultural believes, such more controls and limitations the various aspects of the behaviour and life of girls compared with boys sometimes had negative effects on QoL. Conclusion: As most paediatric teams are multidisciplinary, sharing the information regarding QoL barriers as part of ongoing clinical care is crucial and should help to tailor care to the needs of the adolescent with diabetes.