A Mixed-methods Study Examining Inhaler Carry and Use among Children at School

Abstract

Objective: Asthma self-management depends partly on access to inhalers; for children, this includes independent inhaler carry and use at school (“self-carry”). Although laws and policies support self-carry, little is known about practices within schools. This study aimed to identify factors associated with inhaler self-carry among children and examine barriers and facilitators to self-carry.

Methods: This mixed-methods observational study included child-parent dyads and nurses from four Chicago schools. Children and parents answered questions about asthma care and morbidity, confidence in self-carry skills, and facilitators and barriers to self-carry. Nurses reported asthma documentation on file and their confidence in children’s self-carry skills. Analysis utilized logistic regression. Thematic analysis was performed for open-ended questions.

Results: Of 65 children enrolled (mean = 10.66 years), 45 (69.2%) reported having quick-relief medication at school, primarily inhalers, and 35 (53.8%) reported self-carry. Inhaler self-carry was associated with controller medication use and parent confidence in child’s self-carry skills. Children and parents identified several facilitators to self-carry: child’s asthma knowledge, inhaler characteristics, and need for easy inhaler access. Barriers included child’s limited understanding of asthma and inhalers, perception that inhaler is not needed, and limited inhaler access. Children also emphasized social relationships as facilitators and barriers, while parents described children’s responsibility as a facilitator and inconsistent policy implementation as a barrier.

Conclusions: Efforts to improve inhaler self-carry at school should focus on educating children about asthma and inhaler use, creating supportive environments for self-carry among peers and teachers, and fostering consistent implementation and communication about asthma policy among schools and families.

Keywords:

• Asthma
• children
• inhalers
• self-administration
• self-carry
• self-management
• school

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Gay Chisum and Pamela Dominguez, who were integral in the study development and data collection. We are grateful to the children, parents, and school nurses who participated in the study.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The University of Chicago Medicine Institute for Translational Medicine Community Benefit Grant and The University of Chicago Center for Health Administration Studies Solicited Proposals to Advance Research Questions. Dr. Volerman was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number KL2TR000431. Ms. Kim was supported by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Summer Research Program. Dr. Press was supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute under Award Number K23 HL118151 and is currently supported by the same institute under Award Number R03 HL144883. The remaining authors did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The REDCap project at the University of Chicago is hosted and managed by the Center for Research Informatics and funded by the Biological Sciences Division and by the Institute of Translational Medicine, CTSA grant number UL1 TR000430 from the National Institutes of Health.