Psychopathology in children and adolescents with asthma, investigation of quality of life and parental coping strategies

A significant percent of asthma patients suffer a high level of psychiatric symptomatology and a comorbidity profile. The objective of this research is to analyze and interpret the impacts of psychopathology, self-esteem, parental relations, life quality perception and other psychosocial conditions in patients between the ages of 8 and 18 and predict what kind of influence can these pscyhologic measures have on each other. 32 patients (17 male, 15 female) diagnosed with asthma were compared with 32 healthy volunteers (16 male, 16 female). Researcher used K-SADS-PL (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version), a preliminary scale established to predict psychiatric disorders in children, for all participants including both treatment and control group. All subjects in the study were asked to complete "Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale", and "Health Related Quality of Life Scale for Children" while parents were asked to complete "Parental Attitude Research Instrument", "The Coping Strategy Indicator" and "Health Related Quality of Life Scale for Children-Parent Form". Among socio-demographic variables paternal age, education lengths of mother and father were significantly lower in the asthma group. When the groups were compared in terms of "Health Related Quality of Life Scale for Parental Form" the control group scored higher for their total score and psychosocial health score compared to the treatment group. When the groups were compared in terms of "Health Related Quality of Life Scale for Child Form" the control group scored higher for their total score, physical score and psychosocial health score compared to the treatment group. Higher rates of psychiatric comorbidity were detected in the group with asthma. When the groups were compared on their scores on Parental Attitude Research Instrument, the treatment group showed statistically meaningful higher results on the "Excessive Mothering (F1)" and "Inter-parental derangement (F4)" variables which are considered negative variables. This study found a high level of psychopathology in the patients diagnosed with asthma. When the groups were compared on their quality of life scores, the treatment group scored lower than the control group. It was found that parents of asthmatic children use negative parental attitudes more often than those having healthy controls. Furthermore, it was also noted that the presence of psychiatric comorbidity that occurs alongside asthma also lowered the quality of life. Comprehensive, larger studies are needed to better understand psychopathology, parental attitudes, perceptions for quality of life and relationship between these factors in children and adolescents with chronic disease. Keywords: Asthma, Psychopathology, Quality of Life, Parental Coping Strategies Keywords: Asthma, Psychopathology, Quality of Life, Parental Coping Strategies