[ comparative study on evaluating the mental health of mothers with uncontrolled asthmatic children using SCL-90-R]

ABSTRACT

Asthma is a common pulmonary disease in children that was associated with reversible hypersensitivity of pulmonary airways. It introduces as a psychosomatic disorder with interrelated different psychic and somatic domains which can exacerbate each other. It has been documented that for the effective management of this disease both medical and psychological considerations are crucial. In this regard, we aimed at evaluating psychiatric symptoms in the mothers who have uncontrolled asthmatic children. This is a case-control study that was done on 50 mothers of uncontrolled asthmatic children and 50 mothers of healthy children. Considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a method of simple non- probability sampling was adopted to evaluate each of the cases for psychiatric symptoms, using SCL-90-R. SCL-90-R is a standard tool that is used for evaluating nine psychopathological elements, including psychosis, paranoid ideation, phobia, hostility, anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive and compulsion symptoms and somatizations. It shows the existence and severity of the psychiatric symptoms occurring for one past week. Two groups of participants were evaluated and matched based on some intrusive elements. There was not any significant difference between the two groups of study in terms of children's and mothers' age, birth age, number of children in the family, job, parents' education and their marital status, argument in the family, physical or mental diseases, smoking and addiction in the family. However, it was found that the mean scores of depression, somatizations, psychosis, anxiety, obsession, interpersonal sensitivity and phobia were significantly higher in the asthmatic group. Moreover, mean global severity index was significantly higher in the asthmatic group. Further, as the findings suggest, the odd ratio for serious psychiatric symptoms in the mothers with asthmatic children was 2 while it was calculated as 2.54 for any other psychiatric symptoms. Due to the fact that psychiatric aspects are prominent among both children suffering from asthma and their family, we suggest that psychiatrists cooperate in managing asthma. We believe that the psychotherapy of asthmatic children's family would be an effective way for better management of the disease as well as helping to improve mental health in the society