Lígia Lima

The Psychological Adjustment of Children with Asthma: Study of Associated Variables

As part of a larger research project aimed to understand the impact of asthma in the psychological adjustment of children, this study focuses in the identification of factors associated with this process. The sample of this study consisted of 89 children, aged 8 to 12 with physician diagnosed asthma. To assess childrens adjustment, the Portuguese versions of the following instruments were used: School-age Temperament Inventory (McClowry, 1995) Schoolagers Coping Strategies Inventory (Ryan-Wenger, 1990); Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory - PedsQL (Varni, Seid & Kurtin, 2001); The Self-perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985), Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991); Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliot, 1990). The results revealed that negative reactivity predicts the level of anxiety/depression, task persistence and perceived coping efficacy predicts social skills and that self-esteem is a significant predictor of the perceived quality of life. A significant proportion of shared variance was also found what seems to confirm the existence of multi-determination in the process of adjustment. The main conclusion is that two dimensions of temperament (negative reactivity and task persistence), as well as perceived coping efficacy and self-esteem, play a significant role in influencing the psychological adjustment of children with asthma.

Maternal Coping Strategies in Response to a Child’s Chronic and Oncological Disease: a Cross-Cultural Study in Italy and Portugal

A child’s oncological or chronic disease is a stressful situation for parents. This stress may make it difficult for appropriate management strategies aimed at promoting the child’s wellbeing and helping him or her cope with a disease to be adopted. In particular, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable national cultural influences and the parental strategies used to cope with a child’s severe disease by comparing the experiences of Italian and Portuguese mothers. The study investigates differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of children with oncological or chronic disease. Two groups of mothers took part: 59 Italian mothers (average age 37.7 years; SD=4.5) and 36 Portuguese mothers (average age 39.3 years; SD=4.6). The tool used was the Italian and the Portuguese versions of the COPE inventory that measures five coping strategies: Social Support, Avoidance Coping, Positive Aptitude, Religious Faith and Humor, Active Coping. There were statistically significant differences between Portuguese and Italian mothers regarding Social Support (F(3, 94)=6.32, P=0.014, ɳ2=0.065), Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94)=20.06, P=0.001, ɳ2=0.18, higher values for Portuguese mothers) and Avoidance Coping (F(3, 94)=3.30, P=0.06, ɳ2=0.035, higher values for Italian mothers). Regarding child’s disease, the only statistically significant difference was in Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94)=7.49, P=0.007, ɳ2=0.076, higher values for mothers of children with chronic disease). The findings of specific cultural transversalities provide the basis for reflection on important factors emerging on the relationship between physicians and parents. In fact, mothers’ coping abilities may allow health workers involved in a child’s care not only to understand how parents face a distressful event, but also to provide them with professional support.

The usefulness of a condition-specific measure (child-report) for the evaluation of the adaptation of children with asthma

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to identify the distinctive contribution of the assessment of children´s asthma-specific quality of life. Childrens generic quality of life, temperament, parental perception of asthma management, and the children’s perceived impact of asthma were assessed. The sample group comprised 81 children (aged between 8 and 12 years, diagnosed with asthma) and their parents. The results showed that the asthma module assesses unique aspects of living with asthma and is more sensitive to asthma severity. It also evidences stronger associations with predictors of child adaptation to asthma than the generic module, showing its usefulness in clinical practice.

Perfis de adaptação psicológica na criança com asma

Este estudo tem como objectivos caracterizar sob um ponto de vista psicologico as criancas com asma e suas familias e identificar diferentes perfis de adaptacao. A amostra consistiu em 89 criancas, de ambos os sexos e com idades entre os 8 e os 12 anos e com asma. Relativamente a crianca avaliaram-se o temperamento, inteligencia, auto-estima e coping. Quanto a familia foram avaliados o tipo de agregado familiar, o humor da mae e as alteracoes e interferencias causadas pela asma nas rotinas familiares. Como indicadores de adaptacao foram avaliados sintomas de ansiedade/depressao, as habilidades sociais e a qualidade de vida. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que as criancas com asma, enquanto grupo, apresentam caracteristicas que apontam maiores dificuldades de adaptacao psicologica. No entanto, os resultados da analise de clusters, revelaram dois perfis distintos de adaptacao das criancas com asma sugerindo que apesar de a asma representar uma situacao de risco parece possivel lidar favoravelmente com a doenca.