Effects of a young child’s asthma flare-up on parents

The Effects of a young child’s asthma flare-up on parents is a validated 21-item questionnaire, completed by caregivers, to assess the impact of an asthma flare-up in their child on their quality of life.

It is intended for home assessment of the overall impact of a young child’s asthma exacerbation on the quality of life of their caregivers (parents). This instrument was developed to test the impact of an intervention on the severity of an exacerbation either managed at home or following an acute care consultation.

The Effects of a young child’s asthma flare-up on parents was developed using the standard Kirshner and Guaytt's approach for instrument development. The item generation conducted by an extensive literature review and in 26 caregivers yielded 73 candidate items. The item reduction using factor analysis based on the product of endorsement by importance of each item rated by 104 caregivers reduced the instrument to 21 items. Item presentation and scaling allowed the wording of these 21 items as questions and provided response options on a Likert scale of 1 (best) to 7 (worst). Using the back-translation technique, we simultaneously designed and tested the French and English versions. Finally, 24 caregivers served to test the clarity of the French and English versions.

The Effects of a young child’s asthma flare-up on parents was validated in the context of a published randomised controlled trial of pre-emptive high-dose fluticasone at the onset of an upper respiratory tract infection in preschool-aged children with viral-induced asthma.²

The Effects of a young child’s asthma flare-up on parents is a 21-item score, in which each item is equally weighted and rated on a scale of 1 (best) to 7 (worst). The items pertain to emotions (N=5), concerns (N=10), and disruptions (N=6). The total daily score ranges from 21 (best) to 147 (worst). The instrument should be completed once at the end of the flare-up by the child’s principal caregiver (parent).

The higher the score, the greater the negative impact on the parents.

The Effects of a young child’s asthma flare-up on parents has been used as a research instrument in the context of a published randomised controlled trial of pre-emptive high-dose fluticasone at the onset of an upper respiratory tract infection in preschool-aged children with viral-induced asthma and is currently used in several ongoing trials.^1,2

• Canadian French
• Canadian English

• American Spanish

1. Ducharme FM, Lemire C, Noya FJ, Davis GM, Alos N, Leblond H, Savdie C, Dollet JP, Rivard G, Platt RW. Preemptive high-does fluticasone for viral-induced asthma in preschool-aged children: a randomized controlled trial. New Engl J Med 2009;360:339-53. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19164187
2. Mauger D. Treatment of preschool children with upper respiratory tract illnesses using azythromycin and lower respiratory tract symptoms using oral corticosteroids. (APRIL - OCELOT) NCT01272635. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01272635