Non adherence with asthma management among adolescents

Dr Kay Stewart · Dr Rosalie Aroni · A/Prof Susan Sawyer · Professor Michael Abramson

The aims of this study were to identify: barriers to adherence to therapy from the perspective of adolescents with asthma, and barriers to correct self-assessment of asthma management by adolescents with asthma. In-depth interviews were conducted with 91 adolescents aged between 10 and 24 years (16 females and 15 males 10-14 year; 14 females and 16 males 15-18 years; 17 females and 13 males 19-24 years). In addition, parents of 81 adolescents were interviewed (total of 73 interviews; some involved both mother and father, and some parents have more than one child in the study).

Demographic data was collected about both the adolescent and parent informants, including medical opinion of adolescents' asthma severity. Adolescent informants also completed questionnaires regarding their respiratory health and their knowledge of asthma. The interviews, lasting between one and two hours, have been transcribed verbatim and coded into the NUD*IST software program to facilitate handling the large data set. Reports investigated so far include barriers to therapy adherence, relationships with doctors and other health professionals, hospital and ambulance experiences, family relationships and smoking.

The results of this study will enable identification of issues, which need to be addressed to improve adherence to therapy and correct self-assessment of asthma management by adolescents with asthma. The intention is to develop and test strategies to address these issues. Papers on smoking in young people with asthma and methodological rigour in qualitative research have now been submitted for publication.