Abstract

ARGUELLES, Teresa; GARCIA, Rosario  and  AGRAMONTE, Adriana. Drawing as an exponent of the perceptions of the disease in boys and girls with diabetes mellitus. Rev Cubana Endocrinol [online]. 2006, vol.17, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-2953.

The diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM) in childhood has a negative impact on boys and girls. That's why, it is important to know what this disease means to them. Drawing is an efficient technique to know the meaning of a particular topic in childhood. The aim of this paper was to explore the usefulness of drawing as a means of expression of the perceptions of the disease in a group of children with DM in order to assess its use in the educative process. 20 boys and girls with diabetes mellitus took part in the study: 10 were admitted in the pediatric ward and 10 participated in an ambulatory clinical and educative activity. All of them were invited to draw on the topic “Diabetes and I”. A content and graphic (referring to the use of color) analysis of every drawing was made. The drawing technique was favorably accepted by the children that entered the study. In the group of the hospitalized the most represented topics were diet restrictions.(70 %) and insulin injection (50.0 %), whereas metabolic control (50.0 %) and physical exercise (50.0 %) were the most represented by those included in the ambulatory activity. Topics as balanced diet, education, recreation and hygiene were only dealt with by the outpatients. In the drawings, children reflected key elements of the treatment of DM, as well as the way in which they perceived each of them according to the moment they were living.

Keywords : Diabetes mellitus; children's drawing; perceptions of the disease.

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