Background . The everyday management of a child with asthma can affect the parent\u27s quality of life. Past studies which examined the effects of asthma characteristics of the child on parental quality of life have not reached a consensus over findings. Few studies examine parent characteristics such as mental health and sociodemographics on the quality of life of parents of asthmatic children.
Purpose . To examine the effect of asthma severity of school-children and sociodemographic characteristics onthe caregiver\u27s quality of life. It also investigates whether agreement exists between the caregiver\u27s perception of asthma severity and physician-diagnosed asthma severity.
Methodology . Parents of asthmatic children (n=101) were identified in the waiting room at an outpatient pediatric pulmonology clinic in Las Vegas and were given three questionnaires: (1) the Paediatric Caregiver\u27sQuality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ), (2) asthma severity questionnaire, (3) sociodemographics questionnaire. Spearman\u27s correlation (rho), analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear and multivariate regression, Chi-square, independent t-tests, Kendall tau rank correlation coefficient, and descriptive analyses were performed.
Results . A significant negative correlation was found between overall asthma severity, based on the 2007 NAEPP guidelines, and mean activity limitation scores (rho= .400, p \u3c .001), mean emotional function scores (rho= -.258, p \u3c .001), and mean total of PACQLQ scores (rho= -.342, p \u3c .001). A significant moderate, negative correlation was found between PACQLQ scores and asthma day symptoms, asthma night symptoms, and asthma exercise symptoms. No significant relationship was found between pulmonary function testing (PFT) scores and PACQLQ scores. Parents of children with mild intermittent asthma had higher mean PACQLQ scores, followed by those with mild persistent asthma, moderate persistent asthma, and lastly, severe persistent asthma who had the lowest PACQLQ scores. Predictors of better quality of life included increased income. Predictors of worse overall quality of life included increased hospitalization days, increased ER visits, increased school days missed, and increased work days missed. Using independent t-tests, better scores were found for those who were not of Black or African ethnicity, were able to pay for health costs, owned a home or a car, and perceived their child\u27s asthma as under control.
Implications for nursing . Measuring parental quality of life allows nurse researchers to measure the burdenparents experience in caring for their child in order to develop more effective asthma programs that emphasize adherence to medical treatment. Other factors that can influence caregiver quality of life and other measurement tools for quality of life should be explored
