Assessing adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: a multiple perspective pilot study using visual illness narratives and interviews.

This study explored the illness experiences of adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) using Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA). Five adolescents with IDDM were asked to videotape 8 hours of their lives over a 1-month period. At the conclusion of the study, the primary investigator interviewed each adolescent and their diabetes clinician. VIA visual illness narratives and follow-up interviews provided clinically important, previously unknown information about how adolescents live with diabetes, including the negative and positive influences of diabetes on the family unit and the individual, that parental involvement was associated with adolescents' diabetes control, and that gender may be a significant mediating factor in control.