Family development and the use of diabetes groups: experience with a model approach.

Health professionals commonly recognize the need to educate the child or adolescent with diabetes in developmentally appropriate ways and to include the family in this process. Identification of family life cycle stages and tasks is useful in developing continued opportunities for support and education of these families. A variety of group experiences were used to promote family development in the following stages: child-bearing; preschool; school-age; and teenage. Recommendations are made for implementing groups to provide support and education for the family of a child or adolescent with diabetes.