Improving Care of Inner-City Children with Poorly Controlled Asthma: What Mothers Want You to Know.

Introduction: Low-income caregiver perspectives on asthma management are understudied but may illuminate strategies to improve care delivery and child outcomes.

Method: Purposive sampling methods were used to recruit 15 caregivers of children with frequent asthma emergency department visits. Interviews explored how poverty and stress affect asthma management.

Characterization of Stress in Low-Income, Inner-City Mothers of Children with Poorly Controlled Asthma.

The goal of this longitudinal analysis was to characterize factors associated with the experience of life stress in low-income, inner-city mothers of minority children with high-risk asthma.Participants (n = 276) reported on family demographics, child asthma control and healthcare utilization, social support, contemporary life difficulties (housing, finances, violence exposure) measured by the validated Crisis in Family Systems scale, and daily stress. Latent growth curve modeling examined predictors of life stress across 12 months as a function of home and community difficulties, asthma-specific factors, and social support.

Asthma Home Management in the Inner-City: What can the Children Teach us?

Objective: Knowledge of asthma home management from the perspective of poor, minority children with asthma is limited.

Method: Convenience sampling methods were used to recruit families of low-income children who are frequently in the emergency department for uncontrolled asthma. Thirteen youths participated in focus groups designed to elicit reflections on asthma home management.

Caregiver perception of asthma management of children in the context of poverty.

Objective: Low-income caregivers of young children with high-risk asthma experience social stressors and illness-related demands that may impede effective home asthma management. Knowledge of the caregiving experience in the context of poverty is limited.

Methods: Convenience sampling methods were used to recruit low-income caregivers of children aged 7-12 years, who are frequently in the Emergency Room (ED) for uncontrolled asthma.