Understanding how families share responsibility for asthma management is an important issue in view of evidence for the increasing burden of asthma on the population of the United States. Understanding the degree of child versus adult caretaker management of asthma, and the process and outcomes transfer of responsibility from caretaker to child may help pediatric health care providers facilitate successful illness self-management in the families of their patients. The goals of this study are twofold: 1) to identify the a) types of self-management activities performed by the child, by the caretaker, or jointly, b) percentions of self-management (e.g. expectations, salience, efficacy, and barriers) among caretakers and children, and c) caretaker strategies for teaching of responsibility for asthma self-management tasks among caretakers and their children. Qualitative and quantitative methods are employed. Information from this study will be used to help guide future efforts to educate both families and physicians in an attempt to improve the self-management sharing process of caretakers and children in pediatric chronic conditions.
