Related Experiment Videos
Family therapy in the treatment of severe childhood asthma
Insights
Family therapy significantly improved asthma symptoms in children. Children receiving family therapy showed better general pediatric assessment and reduced medication use compared to the control group.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Psychology
- Respiratory Medicine
Background:
- Severe, chronic bronchial asthma significantly impacts children's quality of life.
- Conventional medical treatment may not fully address the multifaceted needs of pediatric asthma patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of family therapy as an adjunct treatment for severe, chronic bronchial asthma in children.
- To assess the impact of family therapy on asthma symptoms, functional impairment, and medication use.
Main Methods:
- A controlled family therapy study involving 18 children with severe asthma, randomly assigned to a family therapy group or a control group.
- Data on asthma symptoms, functional impairment, and medication use were collected for eight months before and after therapy.
- A before-after therapy design was used for control families who later received therapy.
Main Results:
- Children in the family therapy group showed significantly greater improvement in general pediatric assessment compared to the control group (p < 0.05).
- Twelve children receiving family therapy demonstrated significant improvements in general pediatric assessment, clinical grading, peak expiratory flow, and reduced medication reliance.
- The control group receiving only conventional medical treatment showed no significant changes in asthma symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Family therapy may be a valuable therapeutic tool for managing severe childhood asthma.
- Integrating family therapy into treatment plans can lead to substantial clinical improvements in pediatric asthma patients.
- Further research into family-centered interventions for chronic pediatric respiratory conditions is warranted.
Abstract:
Eighteen children with severe, chronic bronchial asthma were randomly divided into two groups. The families in one group received family therapy while the others served as a control group in a controlled family therapy study. Later the control families were also offered therapy in a before-after therapy design. All children were followed for 3 1/2 yr. Asthma symptoms, functional impairment and the use of drug (from diaries) were rated in ten different ways during eight months before and eight months after the family therapy. Improvement in the clinically most important variable, i.e. general pediatric assessment, was greater in the children in the family therapy group compared to the control group (p less than 0.05) Twelve children who received family therapy showed significant improvement after treatment concerning general pediatric assessment (p less than 0.01), clinical grading (p less than 0.05), peak expiratory flow (p less than 0.05), days with functional impairment/yr (p less than 0.05), no. of doses of inhaled Beta-2-agonists/month (p less than 0.01) and nights when Beta-2-agonists were inhaled (p less than 0.05). The children who only received conventional medical treatment showed no significant change in asthma symptoms. We draw the conclusion that family therapy may represent a valuable therapeutic tool in the management of severe asthma.