Division of Responsibility for Asthma Management Tasks Between Caregivers and Children in the Inner City

Abstract

This investigation examined caregiver and child perceptions of the division of responsibility for asthma management tasks in families. The study sample included 789 children with asthma, aged 6 to 9 years, who lived in the inner city. These children and their primary caregivers completed the Asthma Responsibility Interview. The correlation between the caregiver's and child's ratings of the child's responsibility was low (.19), with children rating themselves as more responsible than their caregivers rated them. Caregiver and child ratings of the child's responsibility increased with the child's age; however, caregivers' ratings of their own responsibility remained constant over the age range studied. Kappa statistics ranged from -.03 to .12, with up to 16% of children reporting less responsibility for self-care than was indicated by the caregiver. More than one third of families reported four or more asthma caregivers. The discrepancy between the caregiver's and child's perceptions and the involvement of multiple caregivers raise the possibility of unintentional nonadherence.