Visto, Pero No Escuchado: A Qualitative Arm of a Mixed-Methods Study of Puerto Rican Children With Asthma

Communication among health care providers, caregivers, and children with asthma is challenging and sometimes may exclude the child. This may result in delay in recognizing and responding appropriately to asthma symptoms. The purpose was to conduct focus groups among Puerto Rican children with asthma on communication with their health care provider about their asthma symptoms.

The qualitative arm (focus groups) of a mixed-method explanatory sequential study that was used to view communication with their health care provider through the lens of a group of Puerto Rican children. The sample included Puerto Rican children ages 8 to 12 years with asthma (N = 23). The goal was to develop a child illness representation questionnaire.

The perspective of children with asthma provided enriched information to influence the development of instrument subscale on communication. The children were often not heard during a clinical visit. Most of the children express fear of their health care provider.

Although this was a small sample, there were indications that children would like to opportunity to tell the story about their experience with having asthma. Further research will lead to the next step toward developing and computing a reliable measure that includes the child in a discussion during a clinical visit.