TITLE:
Barriers of Asthma Care among Asthmatic Children in Saudi Arabia: Maternal Perspectives
AUTHORS:
Abeer Alatawi, Meshaal Alanazi
KEYWORDS:
Barriers to Asthma Care, Mothers, Children, and Saudi Arabia
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.10 No.2,
June
1,
2020
ABSTRACT: Background Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions among children.
Despite the improvement in asthma treatment regimens, its prevalence and related
morbidity are increasing, especially among underserved, minority children. There
are barriers in the management of asthma, which may impact the quality of outcomes.
The goal of this study is to explore these barriers. Methods A cross-sectional
study was conducted on interview data collected through 2019 from mothers of children
(aged 6 - 12 years) with asthma visiting, for convenience, a public shopping mall.
The interviewees were randomly selected, because they met the inclusion criteria. Participants
were considered if the mother answered “yes” to the following questions: Has your
child had physician-diagnosed asthma? Is your child currently taking asthma medications
of asthma? Two community nurses conducted the interviews. Data was obtained using
administrative questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (IBM Inc.,
Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive statistics of percentage, mean, frequency and standard
deviation were applied for categorical and continuous variables. Results Three
hundred mothers participated in this study. Their average age was 36.8 years, 55%
were housekeepers by profession, and 34% had obtained less than high school education.
The majority of children (61%) were males, 45% had moderate asthma, and 42% had
mild asthma. The most frequent types of barriers identified by parents were environmental
factors (67.7%), followed by health care providers (63%), the health care system
(48%), and patient or family characteristics (43%). Mothers were specifically concerned
about the use, safety, and long-term complications of medications, the impact of
exercise limitation on their child’s quality of life, and their own quality of life. Conclusion This study showed several barriers against asthma care in Saudi
Arabia, which mainly related to environmental or personal characteristics. This
highlights the need to enhance current policies within the health care system in
Saudi Arabia to overcome these barriers.