Pediatrics residents' attitudes about insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and children with diabetes.

Nationwide, pediatricians provide a substantial portion of the health care of children with diabetes. Their beliefs and attitudes about diabetes and children with the illness have an important influence on their treatment decisions. The attitudes and beliefs of a 1988 sample of pediatrics residents were compared with data from a 1987 national survey of practicing pediatricians' beliefs and attitudes about children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and about the disease itself. Pediatrics residents in their second and third years of training were considerably more negative about diabetes and diabetic children than were either the members of the national sample of practicing pediatricians or the residents' first-year colleagues.