Quality of life in caregivers of children with asthma: Validity and reliability of the IFABI-R questionnaire

BACKGROUND: Parents'/caregivers' quality of life is an important aspect to consider when handling paediatric asthma, but there is a paucity of valid and reliable instruments to measure it. The Family Impact of Childhood Bronchial Asthma (IFABI-R) is a recently developed questionnaire to facilitate the assessment of asthma-related parents'/caregivers' quality of life. This study researches the psychometric properties of IFABI-R. METHODS: Parents/main caregivers of 462 children between 4 and 14 years of age with active asthma were included in the sample. IFABI-R was administered on two different occasions and a number of other variables related to the parents'/caregivers' quality of life were measured: child's asthma control, family functioning, and parents'/caregivers' perception of asthma symptoms in the child. IFABI-R evaluative and discriminative properties were analysed, and the minimal important change in the IFABI-R score was identified. RESULTS: IFABI-R showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.941), cross-sectional construct validity (correlation with the degree of child's asthma control, family functioning and parent/caregiver perception of the child's asthma symptoms), longitudinal construct validity (correlation of changes in the IFABI-R with changes in asthma control and changes in the perception of symptoms), sensitivity to change and test-retest reliability. An absolute change of 0.3 units in IFABI-R related to a minimal significant change in the parents'/caregivers' quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: IFABI-R is a reliable and valid instrument to study the quality of life of parents/caregivers of children with asthma

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Quality of life in caregivers of children with asthma: Validity and reliability of the IFABI-R questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Parents'/caregivers' quality of life is an important aspect to consider when handling paediatric asthma, but there is a paucity of valid and reliable instruments to measure it. The Family Impact of Childhood Bronchial Asthma (IFABI-R) is a recently developed questionnaire to facilitate the assessment of asthma-related parents'/caregivers' quality of life. This study researches the psychometric properties of IFABI-R. METHODS: Parents/main caregivers of 462 children between 4 and 14 years of age with active asthma were included in the sample. IFABI-R was administered on two different occasions and a number of other variables related to the parents'/caregivers' quality of life were measured: child's asthma control, family functioning, and parents'/caregivers' perception of asthma symptoms in the child. IFABI-R evaluative and discriminative properties were analysed, and the minimal important change in the IFABI-R score was identified. RESULTS: IFABI-R showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.941), cross-sectional construct validity (correlation with the degree of child's asthma control, family functioning and parent/caregiver perception of the child's asthma symptoms), longitudinal construct validity (correlation of changes in the IFABI-R with changes in asthma control and changes in the perception of symptoms), sensitivity to change and test-retest reliability. An absolute change of 0.3 units in IFABI-R related to a minimal significant change in the parents'/caregivers' quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: IFABI-R is a reliable and valid instrument to study the quality of life of parents/caregivers of children with asthma.

Herramientas en la educación del niño asmático / Tools in the education of the asthmatic child

La educación es reconocida como un pilar básico en el tratamiento del asma infantil. A todos los niños con asma y sus familias se les debe ofertar en las consultas de Atención Primaria un programa educativo, progresivo, continuo, gradual e individualizado, que tendrá como fin conseguir el control de la enfermedad de la manera más autónoma posible por parte del niño y/o la familia. Ello implica no solo la transmisión de conocimientos, sino la adquisición de habilidades y modificaciones en el estilo de vida de las familias. En el presente taller repasaremos las herramientas de que dispone el pediatra y la enfermera para realizar la educación del niño asmático, las dificultades más habituales que se presentan en la práctica y los recursos que tenemos para solventarlas, todo ello mediante la presentación de casos clínicos concretos que los alumnos discutirán de forma grupal (AU)

Education is recognized as fundamental in the treatment of the asthma in childhood. Primary care must provide a progressive, continual and individualized educational program to all children with asthma and their families which has as its aim to obtain to the control of the disease in the most independent way possible by the child and/or the family. It implies not only, the transmission of knowledge but the acquiring of abilities and changes in family lifestyles. In the present workshop we will review the tools which are available to the paediatrician and the nurse to educate the asthmatic child, the most common difficulties that appear in the practice, and the resources that we have to resolve them, all of this by the presentation of specific clinical cases that the students will then discuss in groups (AU)