Parents' views of self-management for children with moderate to severe persistent asthma

ObjectivesChildren with moderate to severe persistent asthma, including those with asthma attacks more than once daily, asthma symptoms at night more than once a week, or asthma attacks that affect activities and sleep, may have irregular and recurrent symptoms until adolescence. Such symptoms may affect quality of life and even cause death. This study explored the self-management experiences of children with asthma in Hualien City, Taiwan, based on the views expressed by their parents.Materials and methodsThis study used a qualitative inquiry of 15 parents of children with asthma, in order to understand the children's self-management experiences.ResultsThe findings from this study, as derived from content analysis, showed the following six domains of self-management: (1) knowledge of asthma; (2) use of asthma medications; (3) issues related to physical exercise; (4) self-care in daily life; (5) prevention and handling of asthmatic episodes; and (6) other issues related to asthma.ConclusionThe results of the study can help health professionals understand the self-management experiences of families who have a child with persistent asthma, which in turn could provide appropriate guidelines and valuable information for development of self-management programs for children with asthma.