IDENTIFICAÇÃO E PROMOÇÃO DE FATORES PROTETORES NA GESTÃO DA DIABETES MELLITUS TIPO 1 EM ADOLESCENTES.

Health has been one of the main fields of activity of Social Work, since the early days of the profession, particularly in relation to the assessment and intervention on the social determinants of health. The current challenge due to the increase of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, makes patients and informal carers require greater support from the Social Worker. Furthermore, novel models of healthcare require that the Social Worker be integrated into multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals. Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a chronic autoimmune disease, with particular impact on individuals in the adolescence stage. It is associated with health complications, that can be prevented through a good adaptation and compensation of the disease, with glycemic control and good habits of life, diet, and physical exercise. Because of its developmental characteristics, adolescence is a period of great change that demands from them and their families an increased effort to adapt to chronic illness, while requiring a differentiated intervention by health teams. With this, diabetes requires a reorganization of personal and family habits at various levels, implying not a cure, but daily management. In the present review, it is understood that protective factors become essential in achieving good health outcomes by adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Adolescents, their families, and the community in which they are inserted can and should contribute so that these protective factors exist and persist, not allowing the effect of risk factors to overcome. Within this framework, the Social Worker can play a key role in identifying gaps and in articulating and providing access to resources which can enhance individual, family, and community protective factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]