Who Learns What at Diabetes Summer Camp

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A group of 93 youngsters, 10–15 years old, with insulin-dependent diabetes were evaluated at the beginning and at the end of a 2-week summer camp program for children with diabetes. Four areas of diabetes knowledge were tested: (a) general information; (b) problem solving; (c) skill at urine testing; and (d) skill at insulin injection. The subjects had less than ideal knowledge of diabetes management and had more difficulty answering problem-solving questions than questions of general information. More errors were committed on the test of urine-testing skills than the test of insulin injection. Skill in one area of diabetes knowledge was not highly predictive of knowledge in a different content area. Although scores on the general information and problem-solving tests were moderately related, there was little shared variance between the skills tests or between the skills tests and the tests of general information or problem solving. Although disease duration was unrelated to any of the knowledge test scores, age and sex were important predictors of how much a youngster knew at the beginning and at the end of camp. Older children displayed better knowledge in all areas tested and girls made fewer serious errors on urine testing than boys. Age was also an important predictor of which youngsters acquired new knowledge over the 2-week camp period. Campers 12–15 years of age showed significant improvements in test scores for three of the four knowledge areas assessed. In contrast, the 10- to 11-year-olds showed no change in any of their test scores during their camp stay. The data suggest that cognitive developmental level may be an important determinant of who will learn what from diabetes summer camp.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: