Text2Breathe: Enhance Parent Communication to Reduce Pediatric Asthma Disparities

Number of emergency department visits for asthma care

Asthma morbidity measured as the number of days (or nights) of impairment.

Number of visits with PCP for preventative asthma care in past 12 months

The Asthma Self-Management Questionnaire, recommended by experts convened for the Asthma Outcomes workshop, includes 16 multiple-choice questions regarding knowledge of preventive strategies and controller medication use. Standardized scores (0-100) are generated, with higher scores indicating more knowledge of self-management. Cronbach's alpha was 0.71. Wording of questions has been revised (e.g., "you" = "your child") to be appropriate for parents of children with asthma.

In accordance with other research of pediatric asthma interventions, to assess parents' beliefs about possible asthma quality of life for their child we will administer an 8-item measure of parental expectations for asthma treatment. Parents respond to statements about their expectations (e.g., "I believe that my child can be symptom free most of the time.") using a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Total scores are calculated by averaging across responses, and higher scores reflect more optimistic asthma outcome expectations (Cronbach's alpha = 0.70).

The Medical Competence Communication Scale (MCCS) measures patient's perceptions of their own communication during their most recent medical visits. The patient version of the measure is used to assess information giving, seeking and verifying, as well as socio-emotional communication. The MCCS, patient version, consists of 23 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1= unimportant to 5= important) with a higher score indicating greater perception of communication competence (range 16-80). Cronbach's alpha ranges from 0.76-0.92 on the various subscales. Only the 16 self-competence items will be administered in this study. Wording of questions will be modified to state "my child's medical problem" rather than "my medical problem."

The Parent Asthma Management Self-Efficacy Scale (PAMSES) is a valid and reliable instrument designed to measure parent self-efficacy in preventing and managing children's asthma attacks. The PAMSES consists of 13 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=not at all sure to 5=completely sure) with a total possible score range of 13 to 65; higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy. Cronbach's alpha in a sample of primarily White mothers was 0.87.