ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is one of the commonest chronic diseases in the world. Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus [I.D.D.M] is chronic and irreversible disease, its onset usually occurs in childhood, the big incidence being at puberty. The needs of chronically ill children place specific dem and s on health care system; in addition care- givers have to be more initiators. Diabetes managements impose dem and s that alter the individual's life style forever, so psychological support is crucial. Psychological management of diabetes composed of three levels, which are, knowledge management skills, adherence/ self-care and psychosocial adjustment. Management of diabetic child should focus on empowering the child in self-care, respecting autonomy and encouraging independency. Self-esteem and body-image are important factors to be stressed in caring with chronically ill children. The aim of the current study was to assess body-image and self-esteem and evaluating the effect of psychosocial support on them. A pre/posttest quasi-experimental design was adopted to carry out the present study. Four tools for data collection were sociodemographic datasheet, medical history data sheet, Self-Esteem Inventory [SEI] developed by Coopersmith 1981, draw your -self test adopted from Bellack, and Fleming 1996. The psychosocial support activities were adopted from reading of related literatures to develop positive self-esteem and body-image. A convenient sample of 40 school age children was taken from inpatients diabetic ward in El- Monira Pediatric Hospital. The study Results revealed that 60% of the studied children were females their mean age was 9.65 +/- 1.66, highly significant differences were found as regard to pre and post-test self-esteem [t=11.210, p<0.001] as well as body- image [t = 3.986, p=0.001]. There was a statistically significant relation between child's family income and self-esteem post-test [r=. 039, p=.05], while there were no significant relation between child's sex, age, parent's education and self-esteem in the post-test. The study's results suggested a positive effect of psychosocial support on body-image and self-esteem of school-age children with IDDM.