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Paediatrics
Research
Qualitative study to identify ethnicity-specific perceptions of and barriers to asthma management in South Asian and White British children with asthma
  1. Monica Lakhanpaul1,
  2. Lorraine Culley2,
  3. Tausif Huq3,
  4. Deborah Bird4,
  5. Nicky Hudson2,
  6. Noelle Robertson5,
  7. Melanie McFeeters6,
  8. Logan Manikam7,
  9. Narynder Johal8,
  10. Charlotte Hamlyn-Williams1,
  11. Mark R D Johnson9
  1. 1 Population, Policy and Practice, University College London Institute of Child Health, London, UK
  2. 2 School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
  3. 3 School of Medical Education, King’s College London, Guy’s King’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK
  4. 4 Ealing Community Paediatric Service, Ealing Child Development Team, London, UK
  5. 5 Department of Clinical Psychology, Centre for Medical Humanities, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
  6. 6 NHS England, Specialised Commissioning East Midlands, Leicestershire, UK
  7. 7 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, London, UK
  8. 8 Parent representative, Leicester, UK
  9. 9 Mary Seacole Research Centre, DeMonfort University, Leicester, UK
  1. Correspondence to Professor Monica Lakhanpaul; m.lakhanpaul{at}ucl.ac.uk

Abstract

Objective This paper draws on the data from the Management and Interventions for Asthma (MIA) study to explore the perceptions and experiences of asthma in British South Asian children using semi-structured interviews. A comparable cohort of White British children was recruited to identify whether any emerging themes were subject to variation between the two groups so that generic and ethnicity-specific themes could be identified for future tailored intervention programmes for South Asian children with asthma.

Setting South Asian and White British children with asthma took part in semi-structured interviews in Leicester, UK.

Participants Thirty three South Asian and 14 White British children with asthma and aged 5–12 years were interviewed.

Results Both similar and contrasting themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews. Interviews revealed considerable similarities in the experience of asthma between the South Asian and White British children, including the lack of understanding of asthma (often confusing trigger with cause), lack of holistic discussions with healthcare professionals (HCPs), an overall neutral or positive experience of interactions with HCPs, the role of the family in children’s self-management and the positive role of school and friends. Issues pertinent to South Asian children related to a higher likelihood of feeling embarrassed and attributing physical activity to being a trigger for asthma symptoms.

Conclusions The two ethnicity-specific factors revealed by the interviews are significant in children’s self-management of asthma and therefore, indicate the need for a tailored intervention in South Asian children.

  • asthma
  • community child health
  • qualitative research
  • paediatrics
  • public health

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024545

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    Footnotes

    • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

    • Contributors ML, DB, LC, NR, NJ, MMc, MRDJ made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study. ML was responsible for the overall direction of the project. ML, NR, DB, LC, NH, NJ, MM, CH-W, MRDJ contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data. ML, DB, LC, NR, NJ, MMc, MRDJ contributed to the systematic evidence synthesis. ML, DB, LC, NR, NJ, MMc designed and delivered the participatory workshops. ML, DB, LC, NR, NH, NJ, MMc, CH-W, LM, TH, MRDJ contributed to the drafting of the report and have given final approval of this report.

    • Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) programme (project number 09/2001/19). NIHR had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article. Logan Manikam is funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Doctoral Research Fellowship (DRF-2014-07-005). Monica Lakhanpaul is funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames at Bart’s Health NHS Trust.

    • Competing interests During the MIA project, Monica Lakhanpaul was appointed as a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Fellow, member of the NHS Evidence advisory board, the Health Technology Assessment advisory panel and the Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin editorial panel.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.