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Disagreement in the parent-physician relationship and control of childhood asthma
Abstract
This study explored Disagreement in the parent-physician relationship in ideas about a child's asthma and its course of treatment as a potential cause of the difficulty for parents in maintaining control of the child's asthma at home. The study objectives were: (1) to measure 5 Types of Disagreement in 9 potential Areas of Disagreement, and (2) to determine whether Disagreement is related to control of the child's asthma. 12 physicians and 59 parents (one parent from each family), forming 59 parent-physician pairs, participated in the study. The 5 Types of Disagreement measured were Observed, Parent Perceived, Physician Perceived, Parent Inaccuracy, and Physician Inaccuracy. The 9 Areas of Disagreement studied were: (1) Causes of The Asthma, (2) Triggers to Asthmatic Symptoms, (3) Approaches to Treatment, (4) Qualitative Measure of Control, (5) Future Expectations, (6) Severity of The Asthma, (7) Quantitative Measure of Control, (8) Type of Parent-Physician Relationship, and (9) Satisfaction with The Parent-Physician Relationship. The Areas for each Type of Disagreement found to be more common in the parent-physician relationships than the others, are for Observed Disagreement: Areas 6, 7, and 8; for Parent Perceived Disagreement: Area 7; for Physician Perceived Disagreement: Area 9; for Parent Inaccuracy: Area 7; and for Physician Inaccuracy: Areas 4, 7, and 8. A comparison was made between the pairs whose children's asthma was "out of control" and those whose children's asthma was "in control". Types of Disagreement in the parent-physician relationship found to be significantly related to poor control of a child's asthma are, for Area 1: Observed, Parent Inaccuracy, and Physician Inaccuracy; for Area 2: Observed and Physician Inaccuracy; in Area 4: Observed and Parent Inaccuracy; in Area 6: Physician Perceived, Parent Inaccuracy, and Physician Inaccuracy; in Area 7: Parent Inaccuracy; in Area 8: Parent Perception and Physician Perception; and in Area 9: Observed and Parent Inaccuracy. This research suggests that clear communication of ideas about the child's asthma in the parent-physician relationship is an important influence on outcome of the asthma.
Subject Area
School counseling|Health education|Medicine|Surgery
Recommended Citation
Schumm-Rosen, Patricia, "Disagreement in the parent-physician relationship and control of childhood asthma" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9207457.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9207457