Anxiety levels in mothers of children with asthma and evaluation of methods of coping with stress

ABSTRACT Introduction and Aim: Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children. Cases of asthma are increasing dramatically. Families play an important role in childhood asthma management. Children with chronic diseases and their mothers show stress and anxiety incidences, which are supported by publications. The main purpose of this study was to understand the parental stress and associated coping behaviors of mothers of children with asthma. Cases and Methods: Our study conducted prospectively, and we included 75 asthmatic children and their mothers as study group. In the control group 60 healthy children and their mothers were included. Data was collected by the researchers using the Clinical Interview form, the Beck Anxiety Scale and Coping with Stres Scale of Style. Findings: According to Beck Anxiety Scale, the assessment showed that the mothers of children with asthma anxiety score is 8-15, in 29.3% of cases; 30.6% of patients with anxiety score is 16-25, 34.6% of patients with anxiety score is 26-63, in the control group 50% of patients with anxiety score is 8-15, 31.6% of cases with anxiety score is 16-25, %1.6 of cases with anxiety score is 26-63. In the study group, between mothers of asthmatic children and mothers of healthy children showed statistically significant difference (p<0.005) in terms of anxiety levels. The mean scores of coping ways of stres scale in mothers are as follows; self-confident approach of 13.1±3.5, helpless approach of 15.5±3.2, submissive attitudes of 11.1±2.1, optimistic attitudes of 8.1±2.2 and approach of finding social support of 8.9±2.0. In the control group of the self-confident approach mean score of 15.5±2.3, helpless approach mean score of 10.8 ± 2.5, submissive attitudes mean score of 7.3±2.0, optimistic attitudes mean score of 10.2±1.9 and social support approaches mean score of 6.9±1.3, respectively. Which is a chronic disease in mothers of children with asthma, optimistic attitudes, self-confident approach, compared to healthy children of mothers who had low scores and were found to be statistically significantly different. Results: In this study revelaed the asthmatic children mothers' stress and anxiety levels were increased. It has been determined that during the follow-ups and treatments of children with asthma, giving support to the families will help and improve both the patients' treatment process and the dialog between doctor and patients' relatives. Key Words: Chronic, asthma, stress, scale and anxiety.