Understanding the self-care strategies of patients with asthma

The objective was to understand how adults living with asthma deal with their chronic illness, perceive self-management and develop self-care strategies.

24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted in Montreal, Canada with low- and middle-income adults living with asthma. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for purposes of analysis. The analysis consisted of debriefing sessions, coding and interpretive analysis.

We identified 3 types of self-care strategies adopted by the participants in order to deal with asthma: (1) strategy of controlling symptoms leads to patients following the recommendations of their physician; (2) strategy of preventing symptoms involves a holistic approach to treating illness, and leads patients to prefer lay methods and alternative treatments for preventing symptoms instead of relying on medications; (3) strategy of tolerating symptoms leads people to experience aggravated symptoms and to seek emergency care.

This study reveals that important subjective as well social factors influence the way people deal with a chronic illness like asthma. Future research should: (1) identify the difficulties encountered by vulnerable patients in regard to treatment and care interactions; (2) provide health professionals with the right tools so that they can take into consideration the treatment perceptions and the effects of life conditions on self-management.

Patients with asthma need comprehensive care that addresses social conditions, reluctance to take medication, exploration of lay and alternative treatment and difficulties in accessing preventive care.