Medication adherence in pediatric asthma: Reasoning, responsibility, and behavior

Objective To assess child adherence to preventive asthma medications; to investigate relations between knowledge, reasoning about asthma, and responsibility for management and adherence; and to determine the association between adherence and morbidity. Methods Participants were 106 children with asthma and their parents. Medication adher-ence was electronically monitored for 1 month. Participants completed self-report measures. Children were interviewed to assess reasoning about asthma. Results Children’s adherence was approximately 48 % of prescribed doses. Adherence was negatively related to age (r = –.21, p <.05); minority status, F(1, 98) = 7.55, p <.01; and morbidity (r = –.26, p <.01). Age was associated with increased child knowledge (r =.47, p <.001), reasoning about asthma (τ =.23, p <.01), and responsibility for asthma management (r =.44, p <.01). These variables were not associated with adherence. Conclusions Although older children know more about asthma and assume more responsibility for disease management, their adherence is lower than that of younger children. No association was found between adherence and child knowledge, reasoning about asthma, or responsibility for asthma management. Key words asthma; childhood; adherence; concepts of illness