The project's long-term goal is the longitudinal study of memory and learning skills in children with insulin-dependent diabetes --- mellitus (IDDM). As children progress through school, information acquisition becomes increasingly visual at the same time that adolescents with diabetes begin to experience central visual processing anomalies. Visual memory and learning is virtually unstudied in youth with diabetes even though difficulties with verbally based acquisition skills have been documented. Problems remembering or learning to accurately implement the diabetes treatment regimen can affect metabolic control and compromise both further cognitive functioning and long-term health status. This application proposes to ascertain the functional impact of memory and learning skills on daily self care behaviors of children. A group of adolescents, ages 12-15, will be followed longitudinally as they enter a crucial developmental transition from parental management of their diabetes to increasing self-care responsibility. Approximately 120 adolescents from Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. will be evaluated initially to provide baseline documentation of their memory and learning skills, their academic achievements as well as their diabetes self-care behaviors. Children will be evaluated every year for a total of 4 assessments over the course of 4 years. An accelerated longitudinal design with growth curve analyses will be used to evaluate the achievement and self-care outcomes related to memory and learning skills. It is hypothesized that visual memory will decrease over time in a linear fashion because the visual system is particularly vulnerable with longer disease duration, even though acuity remains intact. It is hypothesized that verbal memory should remain relatively unchanged over time except for adolescents who experience episodes of severe hypoglycemia, which disrupts left hemisphere medial temporal/hippocampal functioning; modality specific learning patterns over time should follow these memory patterns and better memory should relate to better achievement scores and self-care behaviors, independent of the effect of general intelligence.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01DK056975-01A1
Application #
6199692
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-RPHB-4 (02))
Program Officer
Garfield, Sanford A
Project Start
2000-08-15
Project End
2004-07-31
Budget Start
2000-08-15
Budget End
2001-07-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$307,180
Indirect Cost
Name
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Richmond
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
23298
Powell, Priscilla W; Chen, Rusan; Kumar, Anil et al. (2013) Sociodemographic effects on biological, disease care, and diabetes knowledge factors in youth with type 1 diabetes. J Child Health Care 17:174-85
Hendricks, Melissa; Monaghan, Maureen; Soutor, Sari et al. (2013) A profile of self-care behaviors in emerging adults with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Educ 39:195-203
Gaudieri, Patricia A; Chen, Rusan; Greer, Tammy F et al. (2008) Cognitive function in children with type 1 diabetes: a meta-analysis. Diabetes Care 31:1892-7
Holmes, Clarissa S; Chen, Rusan; Streisand, Randi et al. (2006) Predictors of youth diabetes care behaviors and metabolic control: a structural equation modeling approach. J Pediatr Psychol 31:770-84
Streisand, Randi; Swift, Erika; Wickmark, Tara et al. (2005) Pediatric parenting stress among parents of children with type 1 diabetes: the role of self-efficacy, responsibility, and fear. J Pediatr Psychol 30:513-21
Soutor, Sari A; Chen, Rusan; Streisand, Randi et al. (2004) Memory matters: developmental differences in predictors of diabetes care behaviors. J Pediatr Psychol 29:493-505
Fox, Meredith A; Chen, Ru San; Holmes, Clarissa S (2003) Gender differences in memory and learning in children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) over a 4-year follow-up interval. J Pediatr Psychol 28:569-78
Chen, Rusan (2003) An SAS/IML procedure for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 35:310-7