Can the group effect dominate the influence of the child on the parent's decision to care for type 1 diabetes?

Abstract

Aim: To understand how the interaction of peer parents in disease-specific social media groups influences their daily treatment decisions.

Design and methods: We examined the content of the largest Hungarian Facebook group for parents of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus, analyzing 28 days of activity using netnography. In addition, we undertook an online quantitative questionnaire to identify group members' (n = 267) attitudes.

Results: In exploring the influence of the community on the decisions of peer-parents, we found that the respondents could be divided into two clusters. The main difference between the clusters was that committed parents sought the online community for advice and asked questions more frequently, and the peer-support community was a more important part of their self-image. Comparing the influence of online communities and children on the parents' decisions, we observed that the community had the most significant impact on attending diabetes-specific events, while children had the greatest influence on meals and leisure time and were often in conflict with parents.

Conclusions: Social media strongly support the integration of prescribed therapy into daily routine. The influence of the child with diabetes on parental decisions shows that diabetes education needs to become child-centered and that the parent-child relationship should be considered as a crucial element for therapy effectiveness.

Practice implications: Online parenting groups provide mental support in coping with diabetes and would serve as a primary non-medical information source; the healthcare staff must be supportive or even encouraging when parents join such groups.

Keywords: Group effect; Netnography; Peer support; Social media; Type 1 diabetes.