E. Harnish1, K. Sylvester1, C. Mueller1 1Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Introduction: Background: Mindsets are beliefs regarding the stability (fixed) or malleability (growth) of any specific trait or attribute. Holding a growth mindset of health has been related to positive psychological coping in children with medical illnesses such as diabetes and migraines as well as surgical conditions such as orthopedic injury and chest wall malformations. In this study, we attempt to investigate whether participants in a pediatric summer camp designed for metabolic disease can be distinguished by their health mindsets.
Methods: In a community-based clinical study aimed at the identification of risk factors for diabetes, adolescents from a suburban area were recruited to wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for a period of ten days. CGMs were connected wirelessly to a mobile device to evaluate varying levels of metabolic health and identify potential risk factors for pre-diabetes and type-2 diabetes while also monitoring children with type-1 diabetes and healthy peers. Participants were also asked to complete the Health Mindset Scale (HMS), which includes three statements about health that are scored on a Likert scale, 0 (not at all true) to 4(very true), where higher scored indicate a more fixed mindset of health.
Results: 19 pediatric patients completed the mindset scale as well as other camp measures and were included in our analysis. Participants displayed variations in their responses to the health mindset. A mean health mindset of 8.05 (SD 2.17) was noted with 42% participants classifying as “fixed” and 58% as “growth”. Participants with both “fixed” and “growth” mindsets showed good completion of the camp and compliance with monitoring devices. No significant differences were identified for mindset based on demographic factors.
Conclusion: Health mindset has been linked to psychological coping in children with both surgical and medical diseases. In this study, we were able to demonstrate that a sample of adolescents with metabolic precursors to diabetes, who are considered potential targets for medical and surgical intervention, show varied responses to our Health Mindset Scale (HMS). Almost half of our participants held a “fixed” mindset which has been related to maladaptive disease coping. This important finding highlights the need to better characterize the beliefs that adolescents might hold as they engage with their own health in order to improve outcomes. Next steps will be to correlate health mindset with psychological measures of quality of life and physical outcomes for this population.