Reliability and predictors of resistive load detection in children with persistent asthma: a multivariate approach.

Objective: Resistive load detection tasks enable analysis of individual differences in psychophysical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine both the reliability and predictors of resistive load detection in children with persistent asthma who completed multiple testing sessions.

Methods: Both University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte and Ohio University institutional review boards approved the research protocol.

Effects of feedback on the perception of inspiratory resistance in children with persistent asthma: a signal detection approach.

Objective: Accurate perception of asthma episodes increases the likelihood that they will be managed effectively. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of feedback in a signal detection task on perception of increased airflow obstruction in children with persistent asthma.

Methods: The effect of feedback training on the perception of resistive loads was evaluated in 155 children with persistent asthma between 8 and 15 years of age.

Descriptors of breathlessness in children with persistent asthma.

Background: In adult patients, the consistent use of language to describe dyspnea enhances patient-provider communication and contributes to diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. The objective of this research was to determine whether pediatric patients similarly display consistency in the language used to describe "uncomfortable awareness of breathing."

Methods: One hundred children between the ages of 8 and 15 years with moderate to severe persistent asthma enrolled in an asthma education research program completed questionnaires regarding descriptors of asthma on each of two occasions.

Do asthma patients prefer to monitor symptoms or peak flow?

We administered a 65-item survey to patients to assess preference of symptoms and peak flow to detect worsening asthma and to collect information about asthma triggers, asthma knowledge sources, and barriers to peak flow meter use. It was completed by 139 asthma patients. Survey responses were comparable for adult and pediatric patients and for those who owned peak flow meters and those who did not.

Home monitoring in asthma self-management.

Peak flow monitoring of asthma came into vogue with the advent of asthma self-management programs. Because it offered an objective way to gauge asthma severity, it promised improvement in the accuracy of asthma monitoring over that attainable by symptom monitoring. This promise has not been fulfilled.

Guidelines for mechanical lung function measurements in psychophysiology.

Studies in psychophysiology and behavioral medicine have uncovered associations among psychological processes, behavior, and lung function. However, methodological issues specific to the measurement of mechanical lung function have rarely been discussed. This report presents an overview of the physiology, techniques, and experimental methods of mechanical lung function measurements relevant to this research context.