Medication use in children with asthma-user’s perspective

Abstract

Aim This study compared asthma medication experiences of children with asthma and their parents/carers in Australia and India. Further, these findings were used to inform the design and evaluation of an intervention to improve asthma medication use. Methods Semi structured interviews were conducted with a purposive convenience sample of children between the age of 7 to 12 years with asthma and their parents, recruited from General Practices in Sydney and specialty hospitals in New Delhi, India. Then, a parallel group repeated measures pilot study was conducted in tertiary chest hospital in New Delhi, India. Results Common issues reported in both countries included poor parent/child understanding of medications, fears about long term medication use, inadequate inhaler technique, non adherence and issues with cost of medication. The evaluation of the child friendly asthma education program, SSP (Sehantmaand Saanse Program), demonstrated positive outcomes in terms of improved: asthma knowledge, asthma control, inhaler technique, caregiver quality of life and patient satisfaction. Conclusion It is possible that simple models of culturally relevant patient/carer education, empowerment and child inclusion in medical consultations could be designed to enhance the quality use of asthma medications in children in both settings, but are especially needed in developing nations.