Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121396

Deborah Hurley, MSPH¹, Robert McKeown, PhD¹, Tim Aldrich, PhD¹, and Eugene Feigley, PhD². (1) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-5331, hurleyd@gwm.sc.edu, (2) Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of South Carolina, Arnold School Of Public Health, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208

A community-based study and intervention was directed towards asthmatic children (and their parents) seen in emergency departments (EDs) for an asthma episode within a seven-county area of South Carolina. This study focuses on the results from four psychosocial instruments (i.e., Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ), Paediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ), Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI), SF-12) used to assess psychosocial characteristics of these children (ages 6 to 16) and their parents. Cases were ascertained via medical records screening at participating EDs and an in-home visit was scheduled contingent upon enrollment into the study. Pearson correlations, univariate, and bivariate analysis and were completed for each instrument. Additionally, multiple linear regression (where appropriate) was used to evaluate possible predictors of instrument scores. Results from the PAQLQ and PACQLQ suggest that an educational in-home asthma care program is beneficial to both children with asthma and their parents. Most participants had higher (better) QOL scores post-intervention than pre-intervention on most domains. Results from the PCRI indicated problems with parental involvement and parent-child communication in this population, however results may be unreliable. Results from the SF-12 show that parents in our study have comparable scores to that of the general population (norm-based scores were not different than in other populations). Implications for an intervention aimed at reducing ED admissions (due to better case management) and hence, reducing some of the psychosocial comorbidity due to asthma for both children with asthma and their primary caregivers is supported and should be further investigated.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Discuss psychosocial characteristics as possible comorbid conditions for asthma patients (chronic illness patients).
• Identify barriers for assessing health status in some epidemiologic studies.
• Recognize the importance of using well-validated psychosocial instruments for which pre-intervention and post-intervention measures can be obtained.

Keywords: Asthma, Adult and Child Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.