Parental Beliefs About Medications and Medication Adherence Among Urban Children With Asthma

Conn, Kelly M.; Halterman, Jill S.; Fisher, Susan G.; Yoos, H. Lorrie; Chin, Nancy P.; Szilagyi, Peter G.

doi:10.1367/A05-004R1.1

« Previous Next »Ambulatory Pediatrics
Volume 5, Issue 5 , Pages 306-310, September 2005

Parental Beliefs About Medications and Medication Adherence Among Urban Children With Asthma

Kelly M. Conn, Ms, MPH
- From the Department of Pediatrics (Ms Conn and Drs Halterman and Szilagyi), the Children's Hospital at Strong
- Address correspondence to Kelly M. Conn, MPH, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Box 777, Strong Memorial Hospital, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642
Jill S. Halterman, Dr, MD, MPH
- From the Department of Pediatrics (Ms Conn and Drs Halterman and Szilagyi), the Children's Hospital at Strong
Susan G. Fisher, Dr, PhD
- Department of Community and Preventive Medicine (Drs Fisher and Chin), School of Nursing (Dr Yoos), University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY
H. Lorrie Yoos, PhD
- From the Department of Pediatrics (Ms Conn and Drs Halterman and Szilagyi), the Children's Hospital at Strong
Nancy P. Chin, Dr, PhD
- Department of Community and Preventive Medicine (Drs Fisher and Chin), School of Nursing (Dr Yoos), University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY
Peter G. Szilagyi, Dr, MD, MPH
- From the Department of Pediatrics (Ms Conn and Drs Halterman and Szilagyi), the Children's Hospital at Strong

Received 7 January 2005; accepted 11 May 2005.

Background.—Although national guidelines recommend controller medications for children with persistent asthma, adherence is poor. Prior studies have begun to explore parental beliefs regarding controller asthma medications and their effect on adherence.

Objective.—To describe parental beliefs about controller medications among a community-based sample of urban children with persistent asthma and to examine the relationship between parental beliefs and adherence.

Design/Methods.—Parents of 150 children with asthma completed a telephone survey as part of a larger asthma intervention. Parents of children using controller asthma medications were included in this study. A previously validated Beliefs About Medications Questionnaire (BMQ) was used, which included two subscales: necessity and concern. The relationship between parental beliefs about medications and medication adherence was assessed using bivariate linear regression and multivariate statistics.

Results.—This study included 67 children with parental report of controller medication (54% male, 61% African American, 69% Medicaid). Overall, 75% of parents strongly believed that their child's medications were necessary for their health and 34% had strong concerns about the medications. Only 22% of parents reported being completely adherent with medications. Parents with greater concern about medications were more likely to have poor adherence (P < .05). In a multivariate analysis, including both BMQ subscales and asthma severity, concern about medications significantly predicted poor medication adherence (P = .03).

Conclusions.—Parental concerns about controller medications were associated with poor medication adherence for this population of urban children with asthma. These findings highlight the importance of addressing parental concerns at the time of medication prescription.

KEY WORDS: beliefs about medications , childhood asthma , inner city , medication adherence , parental concern