The Psychological Recognition of Asthmatic Children from Parents'Views

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Many studies showed that the asthmatic children mostly have psychosocial problem such as depression or anxiety. The object of this study is to help the asthmatic children and their family by knowing what is their mothers' biggest concern about their asthmatic children. METHODS: We made up a questionnaire with asked the mothers by telephone. If they though asthma had a certain effect on their asthmatic children's activity, depression, anxiety, positiveness, scholastic achievement, friendship, pleasure, concentration, anger, growth and development. We asked the mothers whose children had visited the pediatric department in st. colomban's hospital from 1990 to 1996 and had been diagnosed and treated as asthma, and whose asthmatic children were between 7 and 21. RESULTS: More than half of the mothers who got a phone-call said that their children had problems in house life, school life, social life due to asthma and frequent asthmatic attack made their children less concentrated, inactive, less scholastic achieved, but there were few who said that asthma seemed to have an effect on their children's friendship, depression, pleasure. CONCLUSIONS: In the psychological aspect, the mothers may concern more if their children cannot keep up with the competitive social tendency closely related to concentration and scholastic achievement than if their children have some emotional disorder or behavial disorder such as depression and anxiety