Influence of parental anxiety and beliefs about medicines on feeding and exercise in children living with asthma

Abstract

This study’s primary objective was to establish differences in beliefs about medicines, levels of asthma-related anxiety and diet and exercise behaviours between parents of children with well controlled and poorly controlled asthma. Secondary objectives were to explore how asthma control might shape relationships between parental cognitions and parenting practices concerning paediatric asthma. Parents of children with asthma aged 10–16 years ( N = 310) completed standardised questionnaires measuring beliefs about medicines, parental asthma-related anxiety, parenting attitudes towards child activity, parental feeding and asthma control. Parents of children with poorly controlled asthma reported significantly greater asthma medication necessity and concern, asthma-related anxiety, control of child activity, pressure to exercise and unhealthy feeding practices. Moderation analyses indicated that the relationship between parental concern about asthma medicine and parental control of child activity was strongest in children with poorly controlled asthma. Also, the relationship between parental asthma-related anxiety and use of food to regulate child emotion was only significant when asthma was poorly controlled. Parental beliefs about asthma medicines and asthma-related anxiety may indirectly influence asthma outcomes through unhealthy parenting practices around exercise and diet. Eliciting and understanding parents’ perceptions of asthma medications and anxiety may facilitate personalised interventions to improve asthma control.

Assessment of the Physical Activity of Children with Asthma Bronchiale

“…Research has shown that parents, their characteristics and attitudes, such as higher education of the mother, the father’s smoking, or the parents’ asthma, play a significant role in the development and control of childhood asthma [ 26 , 27 ]. Parents’ attitudes towards medication and anxiety about the disease were significantly associated with asthma control, and also influenced asthma outcomes through diet and exercise habits [ 28 ]. Therefore, the extent to which either the child or the parent believes that they can influence the disease through a healthy lifestyle will also affect its outcomes [ 29 ].…”