Purpose: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Although effective treatment is available, adherence is low. The Phase Model of Asthma Self-Regulation describes four sequential phases in the process of developing skills in asthma self-regulation. Higher phases are associated with improved adherence. Identifying beliefs about asthma present at each phase provides a framework for developing specific interventions to promote progression to the next phase. Before moving into intervention development, it is first necessary to identify the specific beliefs that are of primary importance in each of the phases of asthma self-regulatory development. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between parental health beliefs about asthma and phase of asthma self-regulation. Methods: For this cross-sectional descriptive study, a convenience sample of 100 parents of three to six year old children diagnosed with asthma will be recruited from pediatric and asthma clinics at a Midwestern medical center and from a community Head Start agency. Parents will be interviewed by telephone using: (1) the Asthma Health Beliefs Interview, (2) the Asthma Self Regulatory Development Interview, and (3) a demographic and illness information survey. Analysis will include descriptive statistics to report demographic, diagnosis, treatment, and education information. Symptom frequency will be used to classify level of illness severity. The number and percentage of parents at each phase of self-regulatory development and percentage of parents holding each of the health beliefs will be reported. The proportion of each belief by phase will be compared using a series of two-sample binomial tests. Conclusions: It is expected that each phase of asthma self-regulation will be associated with a unique set of health beliefs. Implications: The information gained from this study will be used to develop tailored interventions based on knowledge of phase-related parental health beliefs.
Session #1223 - Graduate Student Poster Session
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)