Laster Nastassia, Holsey Chanda N, Shendell Derek G, Mccarty Frances A, Celano Marianne
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
J Asthma. 2009 Sep;46(7):731-9. doi: 10.1080/02770900903082571.
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. Those particularly affected are young, poor, African American children. Moreover, rates of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and mortality are substantially higher for black children. Despite the ample published research on asthma prevalence and asthma management interventions, there is little research available on barriers to asthma care among urban, low-income families as perceived by children with asthma and their caregivers.
This qualitative study analyzed data from five focus groups conducted with 28 participants in metropolitan Atlanta.
This study found caregiver and child health beliefs and perceptions concerning the use of daily controller medications to be a significant barrier to asthma care and proper self-management at home and at school. Barriers to environmental control consisted mostly of financial constraints, which made residential environmental remediation activities difficult to implement. Psychological distress was prevalent among both children and caregivers, which demonstrated the burden associated with managing a chronic illness.
Families in urban, low-income communities require asthma management interventions tailored to their specific characteristics, barriers, and challenges. Our findings can be used to inform and enhance asthma management interventions for urban families with children with asthma.
哮喘是儿童期最常见的慢性疾病之一。受影响尤为严重的是年幼、贫困的非裔美国儿童。此外，黑人儿童的急诊就诊率、住院率和死亡率要高得多。尽管已有大量关于哮喘患病率和哮喘管理干预措施的研究发表，但对于哮喘患儿及其照料者所感知的城市低收入家庭哮喘护理障碍的研究却很少。
这项定性研究分析了在大亚特兰大地区对28名参与者进行的五个焦点小组的数据。
本研究发现，照料者和儿童对于使用每日控制药物的健康信念和认知是哮喘护理以及在家和在学校进行适当自我管理的重大障碍。环境控制的障碍主要包括经济限制，这使得住宅环境整治活动难以实施。心理困扰在儿童和照料者中都很普遍，这表明了管理慢性病所带来的负担。
城市低收入社区的家庭需要针对其特定特征、障碍和挑战量身定制的哮喘管理干预措施。我们的研究结果可用于为有哮喘患儿的城市家庭的哮喘管理干预措施提供信息并加以改进。
