Association of asthma self-efficacy to asthma control and quality of life.

BACKGROUND

Achieving optimal asthma control relies upon several behavioral factors (self-monitoring, treatment adherence) that may be influenced by asthma self-efficacy (ASE).

PURPOSE

To assess the extent to which levels of ASE are associated with asthma control and asthma-related quality of life in patients with asthma.

METHODS

A total of 557 adult patients with documented asthma completed a battery of questionnaires (Asthma Self-Efficacy Scale, ASES; Asthma Control Questionnaire, ACQ; Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire, AQLQ) and standard spirometry. Patients also underwent a sociodemographic, medical history, and psychiatric interview. Partial correlations adjusting for covariates were conducted to assess associations between ASES scores and ACQ and AQLQ scores.

RESULTS

Results indicated that ASES scores were negatively correlated with ACQ total score and individual items scores, indicating that higher levels of ASE were associated with improved asthma control, and positively correlated with AQLQ total and subscale scores, indicating that higher levels of ASE were associated with better asthma-related quality of life. All findings were independent of covariates.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that being confident in one's ability to control asthma symptoms is associated with better asthma control and quality of life. Future studies should assess the direction of the association between self-efficacy and asthma morbidity in order to determine optimal treatment targets.