DEVELOPING CONCEPTIONS OF CHRONIC DISEASE - A COMPARISON OF DISEASE EXPERIENCE

We predicted that children's conceptions of various self-care behavior s and social relations would be related to their degree of experience with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). A total of 55 childre n were recruited for this study in three experience groups: children w ith IDDM (high experience), children having a sibling with IDDM (low e xperience), and normal healthy children (no experience). In line with our model, children with IDDM had a more developed and sophisticated u nderstanding of concepts associated with disease management than did e ither siblings of children with diabetes or the comparison group; surp risingly, experience with the disease (children with IDDM) was associa ted with more complex conceptions of social relations as well.