Effect of asthma in childhood on psycho-social problems in the family

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Psychosocial Medicine
• Family Studies

Background:

• Asthma care responsibility has shifted from healthcare services to families, potentially creating new psychosocial challenges.
• Understanding the psychosocial impact on families managing childhood asthma is crucial for effective support.
• The relationship between asthma's medical severity and family psychosocial well-being requires investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the psychosocial effects experienced by families with a child diagnosed with asthma.
• To determine if a correlation exists between the medical severity of childhood asthma and the presence of psychosocial problems within the family.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a questionnaire assessing psychosocial domains: economy, work, free time, health, environment, and family.
• Included a health-related medical questionnaire and analyzed medical records.
• Data focused on reported psychosocial problems and objective medical indicators.

Main Results:

• A high frequency of psychosocial problems was noted in individual questions across evaluated domains.
• Significant association found between high drug consumption and severe psychosocial problems.
• No positive correlation observed between emergency visits, school absence, or sleep disturbance and psychosocial issues; a negative correlation was found with school absence.

Conclusions:

• While individual psychosocial issues are frequent, the average problem rate per domain is low, allowing targeted identification of severe problem areas.
• This approach enables medical services to direct aid effectively to families facing the most significant psychosocial challenges.
• A clear relationship exists between the medical severity of asthma and the extent of associated family psychosocial problems.