Background: The onset of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is highest during adolescence. The symptoms may make the essential developmental transitions associated with this stage more challenging and cause difficulties in psychosocial functioning. While previous research has compared adolescents with IBD to healthy controls, it may be more informative to take a developmental approach, examining psychosocial functioning within the early, mid and late stages of adolescence. Aims: The primary aim of this exploratory study was to investigate whether stage of adolescence has an effect on social functioning, body image and self-esteem in adolescents with IBD. The secondary aims were to determine whether stage of adolescence has an effect on mood, and whether demographic and disease factors have an effect on outcome measures. Methods: 63 adolescents aged between 11 and 17 years with IBD were recruited from a gastroenterology outpatient clinic. Each adolescent completed measures of social functioning, body image, self-esteem and mood. Demographic and disease information was also gathered. Outcome measures were compared between the three groups (early, mid and late adolescence) using parametric and non-parametric statistical tests. Results: There were no significant differences in any of the outcomes between the three groups. The only significant finding from regression analysis was that gender significantly predicted self-esteem. Nearly half the sample reported impaired social functioning and a quarter had significant levels of anxiety. Conclusions: Stage of adolescence was not found to have an effect on psychosocial functioning or mood in this population. The small sample size, assigning developmental groups according to age and the mild disease severity of participants limit the conclusions that can be drawn from this study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:524021 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Ross, Sarah |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2158/ |
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