Looking at Diabetes Through Different Lenses: Focus Groups Conducted With Somali Canadian Families and Their Health-care Providers.

OBJECTIVES: In Toronto, many families with Somali backgrounds have children living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). At our clinic, children with African and Caribbean backgrounds have higher glycated hemoglobin than children from European backgrounds. In this study, we explored the experiences and perspectives of Somali Canadian families with children living with T1D, as well as health-care professionals (HCPs) who care for them, to better understand how T1D impacts these families. METHODS: We conducted 3 separate focus groups with Somali Canadian parents of children with T1D (n=11), Somali Canadian adolescents with T1D (n=5), and HCPs who treat patients with diabetes (n=9), respectively. A grounded theory approach to data analysis was applied to identify themes. RESULTS: Four key themes emerged: 1) the general impact of living with diabetes, 2) the challenges of self-management, 3) uncertainty on whose job it is to manage the diabetes, and 4) how cultural differences between Canada and Somalia impact diabetes management. There was discordance in the perspectives of families and HCPs for all themes, but especially themes 1 and 3. Parents focussed on the social impact of diabetes and behavioural indicators of management success, whereas HCPs emphasized clinical measures. Families believed children should take charge of their diabetes self-management early on, whereas HCPs believed the children were not developmentally ready for this responsibility. CONCLUSIONS: Differing perspectives of patients, families, and HCPs may lead to diverging expectations for treatment and management. Families and practitioners must work together to identify barriers to care and build strategies to promote competency and resilience in the self-management of T1D.

Early life environment and social determinants of cardiac health in children with congenital heart disease.

Congenital heart disease is a significant cause of infant mortality. Epidemiology and social context play a crucial role in conditioning disease burden and modulating outcomes, while diagnosis and treatment remain resource intensive. This review will address the role of social demographics, environmental exposure, epigenetics and nutrition in the aetiology of congenital heart disease. We then discuss the determinant effect of social factors on the provision and outcomes of care for congenital heart disease and implications for practice. It is our hope that enhanced knowledge of the intersection of social determinants of health and congenital heart disease will facilitate effective preventative strategies at the individual and population levels to optimize heart health outcomes across the life course.

Identification of early childhood caries in primary care settings.

Early childhood caries (ECC) is the most common chronic disease affecting young children in Canada. ECC may lead to pain and infection, compromised general health, decreased quality of life and increased risk for dental caries in primary and permanent teeth. A multidisciplinary approach to prevent and identify dental disease is recommended by dental and medical national organizations. Young children visit primary care providers at regular intervals from an early age. These encounters provide an ideal opportunity for primary care providers to educate clients about their children's oral health and its importance for general health. We designed an office-based oral health screening guide to help primary care providers identify ECC, a dental referral form to facilitate dental care access and an oral health education resource to raise parental awareness. These resources were reviewed and trialled with a small number of primary care providers.

A Longitudinal Randomized Trial of the Effect of Consistent Pain Management for Infant Vaccinations on Future Vaccination Distress.

The objective was to determine if consistent pain management during vaccine injections has a beneficial effect on future infant pain reactivity. This was a multicenter, longitudinal, double-blind, double-dummy, add-on, randomized controlled trial. Healthy infants were randomized to 1 of 4 add-on pain management regimens for all vaccinations in the first year of life: 1) placebo control (standard care), 2) parent video education about infant soothing (video), 3) video and oral sucrose solution (sucrose), 4) video and sucrose and topical liposomal lidocaine (lidocaine). At 15-month vaccinations, all active pain interventions were administered (video and sucrose and lidocaine); however, individuals remained blinded to the original treatments given. Pain at 15 months was evaluated during 3 procedure phases (baseline, needle injection, and recovery) by a researcher unaware of group allocation using a validated measure, the Modified Behavioural Pain Scale (range, 0-10). Altogether, 352 infants participated; characteristics did not differ among groups (P > .05). Pain scores did not differ among groups during baseline (P = .642), needle injection (P = .739), or recovery (P = .750) phases. In conclusion, there was no evidence of a long-term benefit of consistent use of pain interventions in the first year of life on future infant pain responsivity at 15-month vaccinations. PERSPECTIVE: This randomized controlled trial did not find a long-term benefit of consistent pain management during infant vaccinations on future infant pain responsivity at 15 months. The results are relevant to clinicians and researchers studying and evaluating pain interventions in children undergoing medical procedures.