This descriptive, qualitative study aimed to better understand the type 1 diabetic adolescents' daily life experiences, per their speeches. The participants were 14 adolescents treated as diabetic outpatients in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, from June to October of 2008. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and organized according to Morse and Field content analysis. We observed that the discovery of diabetes was a difficult moment due to the changes they had to adopt as therapeutic control. Following the appropriate diet was seen to be a little bit difficult as a consequence of the internal and external motivation to which they are submitted and their financial difficulties. The adolescents have their families' and friends' support for their daily treatment. Furthermore, they like the service performed by ambulatory healthcare professionals. There is still a lot to improve as health professionals in valuing the adolescents' life experiences with diabetes, identifying factors that interfere with metabolic control.
Life change events; Diabetes mellitus; Adolescent