RESUMO
Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common pediatric chronic conditions and has potentially life-threatening sequel. It is the most dramatic form of diabetes that has profound effects not only on children and adolescents' physical health but also their mental, emotional, social, and psychological status that in turn can affect one's quality of life. Many studies indicated that enhancing quality of life and well-being is as important as metabolic control and prevention of secondary morbidity. The present study was conducted to identify the quality of life among diabetic school age students in Elbehira governorate. The study was carried out on a sample composed of 300 diabetic students aged 10-15 years enrolled in governmental primary and preparatory schools in Elbehira governorate. The data collection process started from the end of December 2008 to the end of May 2009.Two tools were used to collect necessary information: Student's clinical data structured questionnaire and the generic KINDLR Quality of life Questionnaire.lt was developed by BulUnger and Ravens-Sieberer in 1994 to assess quality of life in chronically ill children including diabetes module. It includes 42 questions and six subscales; physical well being, emotional well being, self esteem, friends, family and school. It was translated into Arabic and used to collect data. The main results obtained from the study revealed that the age of students ranged from 10-15 years with a mean of 12.67 + 1.927. More than half of students [57.0%] were females, while the rest [43.0%] were males. More than half [54.0%] of them were enrolled in preparatory schools, and 46.0% were enrolled in primary schools. Two thirds [33.7%] of them had diabetes from 5-7 years, while 18.0% of them had diabetes for more than 7 years. The majority [83.0%] of them discovered the disease through appearance of clinical manifestation. More than three quarters [78.7%] of the students had poor knowledge about diabetes mellitus, while more than one fifth [20.7%] of them had fair knowledge and the rest of them [0.7%] had good knowledge. More than half [54.7%] of the students had fair self care practices, while more than one fifth [24.0%] of them had good self care practices and the rest [21.3%] of them had poor self care practice. More than two thirds [67.7%] of students had fair quality of life, while, more than one fifth [22.3%] of them had poor quality of life and the rest [10.0%] had good quality of life with a mean of 1.8840.556. Statistically significant relations were found between QOLscores and students' residence, father's education, mothers' education and working condition, crowding index, total self care practices score. No statistically significant relations were found between QOL scores and students' age, sex, scholastic year, birth order, consanguinity of parents, duration after diabetes diagnosis, method of disease discovery, total knowledge score. It can be concluded that type 1 diabetes affects all QOL dimensions, physical, emotional, self esteem, school, family and friends relations