November 2004

Video helps students manage diabetes at school

Two new Royal Children’s Hospital educational videos/DVDs will help primary and secondary teachers and parents with the management of students with Type 1 diabetes.

Loco Parentis comprises two videos—primary and secondary versions–designed to highlight day-to-day diabetes management issues and prompt discussion between parents and teachers about their differing expectations of each other when it comes to the care of a student with diabetes.

The video’s title—Loco Parentis—is drawn from a disused legal term ‘in loco parentis’ meaning ‘in place of parents’—a phrase used to describe the temporary guardianship a teacher undertakes while a child is at school.

‘Duty of care’ is now a more commonly-used term.

In Australia, about one in every 1,000 students under 15 is living with Type 1 diabetes.

Some time in their careers, teachers are likely to be responsible for students with diabetes—in the classroom, on a school excursion or at camp.

Using humorous and dramatic role plays, excerpts from focus group sessions conducted at the hospital and comments from health professionals, Loco Parentis puts forward a variety of useful management strategies for teachers while addressing smaller issues such as lunchtime eating policies and the affect sport and stress during exams can have on blood sugar levels and body image.

Loco Parentis has been produced by Joanna Griggs from the hospital’s Education Resource Centre with assistance from the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes led by Dr Fergus Cameron.

It is the third in a planned series of six videos addressing issues specific to children and teenagers with diabetes.

The first in the series—Keep your life ONLINE: Teenagers and Young Adults Living Positively with Diabetes—has received a number of international media awards.

• Primary and secondary schools throughout Australia can buy Loco Parentis online at www.rch.org.au/erc/video/ or by calling 9345 5477.