Ecological barriers and social forces in childhood asthma management: examining routines of African American families living in the inner city.

Objective: Asthma affects African American children at unprecedented rates. Researchers have examined the context in which African American families live and experience illness, and suggest that ecological barriers contribute to poor health. In this paper, the authors examine the social forces underlying these ecological barriers and what African American parents living in the inner city do to manage their children's asthma amidst these challenges.

Methods: African American parents of children aged 5 to 12 years diagnosed with persistent asthma living in the inner city were interviewed using a semistructured interview guide. Grounded theory analysis identified recurrent themes in the interview data.

Findings: Parents identified four adaptive routines they use to manage their children's asthma: ( 1 ) give young children with asthma responsibility for medication use; ( 2 ) monitor the availability of the school nurse; ( 3 ) manage air quality; and ( 4 ) frequently clean the home. These routines are described as adaptive because parents navigate ecological barriers and social forces within their daily context to manage their children's asthma.

Implications: The authors argue that the first step in reducing the impact of ecological barriers is understanding African Americans' sociohistorical context.