title: Relationship between disease and psychological adaptation in children in the Childhood Asthma Management Program and their families. CAMP Research Group.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypotheses that the burden of childhood asthma compromises psychological adaptation and that the degree of compromise increases with disease severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) is a multicenter randomized clinical trial initiated and funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study sites were located in Albuquerque, NM, Baltimore, Md, Boston, Mass, Denver, Colo, St Louis, Mo, San Diego, Calif, Seattle, Wash, and Toronto, Ontario.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1,041 children aged 5 to 12 years were randomized to the trial after confirming their mild to moderate asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Psychological questionnaires administered at baseline to parents and participants assessed anxiety, depression, behavioral competence, social support, and family functioning.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Psychological difficulty was not increased in this group of asthmatic children and their families. Psychological adaptation in the children was associated with the psychological adaptation of the family but not with disease-related variables. Scores from the Impact on Family Scale, a measure of family quality of life related to the child's illness, were associated more strongly with the overall psychological characteristics of the family and child and very little with disease characteristics or severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mild to moderate asthma has imposed modest effects on the daily life but not the psychological health of this group of children. Variation in the psychological characteristics of these children was, as is the case for most children, traceable to the overall psychological adaptation of their families.
authors.affiliation: National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colo 80206, USA.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Annett
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Iklé
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: DuHamel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rand
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Strunk
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012803:Sick Role