Determining the factors which affect the life quality of children diagnosed with asthma

This study has been conducted in order to determine the factors that affect the life quality of the children diagnosed with asthma. This descriptive and cross-sectional study has been conducted between the dates 28.03.2016 - 28.05.2016 in Pendik Training & Research Hospital of Marmara University, Pediatric Chest Diseases clinic and Pediatric Immunology and Allergy clinic. The study sample consisted of 103 children, which at least 3 months have passed since their asthma diagnosis and in the age group of 7-16 and without any communication disability or any other chronic disease. Written consents were obtained from Koç University's Ethics Committee, relevant institutions and the mothers. Data has been collected using socio-demographic questionnaire and Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) through face to face interviews. Number, percentage, correlation, importance test of the difference between two means in two-some groups, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis analysis for groups with 3 or more, and in the case that the p value results less than 0.05 in the analysis of multi-groups; in order to determine the group which creates the difference, the Post-Hoc tests such as Independent Samples t Test with Bonferroni correction and Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction were used to evaluate the data. It's been identified that 51.5% of the children were girls, 73.8% of them were in the age group of 7-11, 36.9% of them were having difficulties at school, 78.6% of the children's daily activities were affected due to asthma, that there were less than 4 people living in 57.3% of their parents' houses and 89.3% of their parents have been educated about asthma. Observing the house conditions of the children with asthma; it's identified that there is no smoking in 96.1% of the children's environment, 11.7% of them live in a house with a coal burning stove, 30.1% of them live in a house with humidity and 11.7% of them live in a house that has pets in it. Evaluating the total scores of the life quality of the children and sub-groups mean scores; it's found that the total mean score is 121.53 ± 25.29; the highest mean score among the sub-group mean scores is in the symptoms group, followed by emotional function and activity limitation sub-groups. It's detected that the activity limitation sub-group mean score is significantly decreasing with the increase of the number of people living in the house and other siblings having asthma too. It's found that the symptom sub-groups mean scores of the children that are exposed to smoke and psychological factors and which state that their daily activities are being affected are lower. It's seen that the emotional function sub-groups mean score of the children that are exposed to psychological factors are significantly decreased. It's been detected that the scale total mean score of the children with sensitivity to cockroach and psychological factor stimulant is lower (p<0.05). According to the results obtained from the study; it's been suggested that the stimulants which trigger the symptoms, asthma disease, accurate and effective medication treatment and self-care should be taught to the child and the family; home care continuity should be ensured and arranging the environment to reduce the child's connection with the allergens that could trigger the asthma attack is necessary.