Perspectives and experiences of mothers of school-age children with asthma: a qualitative study

Abstract

Introduction and Aims

This study aimed to explore the perspectives and experiences of mothers of school-age children with asthma in care.

Methods

A phenomenological study was conducted using qualitative research methods from August 2021 to November 2021. Mothers (from Sichuan, China) of school-aged children with asthma who sought outpatient care at the pediatric asthma clinic were purposively sampled based on their occupation, education level, and duration of their child’s illness. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted in consultation room A07 of the pediatric asthma clinic. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically.

Results

23 mothers expressed interest, but data saturation was reached after recruiting 15 mothers.Four main themes encompassing ten sub-themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Negative psychological burden, with sub-themes including anxiety shock, fear of death, guilt, and stigma. (2) Family dysfunction, with sub-themes including impaired quality of life, family emotional crisis, and heavy economic burden. (3) Difficulty in seeking medical treatment. (4) Active response, with sub-themes including emotional adjustment, family empowerment, and social support.

Conclusions

In this sample, the caregiving experience of mothers of school-age children with asthma is diverse and complex, reflected not only in personal psychological aspects but also in family functioning and social support. Taking into account various factors, such as addressing psychological well-being, emphasizing family and social support, and promoting the sharing of positive experiences, may result in more effective alleviation of caregiving stress for mothers of school-age children with asthma.

Keywords:

• School age
• children with asthma
• mother
• care experience

Acknowledgments

We thank all the participants in this study.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare there is no Complete of Interest at this study.

Authors’ contributions

Fang Yang: The principal investigator, responsible for the development, analysis, and paper writing of the research; Cheng Chen and Xuexue Deng: Participated in data collection; Tingting Hu and Dan Bi:Participated in data analysis, Huawei Li: Guidance throughout the research process and proofreading for English language refinement. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. Participants of this study did not agree for their individual responses to be shared publicly due to privacy or ethical restrictions, so this information is not available.If you want to inquire about registration information, can be made at https://www.chictr.org.cn/bin/project/edit?pid=131367 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Registration number:ChiCTR2200056746)

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.