title: The relationship between caregivers' post-traumatic stress disorder and their asthma health beliefs in an ethnic minority inner-city sample.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Caregivers' asthma health beliefs can impact healthcare decisions. This study aimed to determine whether caregivers with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had asthma illness representations less aligned with the professional model of asthma management and whether their children had worse asthma control.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 120 children with asthma (age M = 9.25 ± 1.37) and their caregivers recruited from the Bronx, NY, USA. Participants were Puerto Rican (n = 55), African-American (n = 30), Afro-Caribbean (n = 22), and Mexican (n = 13). Caregivers completed: a psychiatric interview to determine diagnosis of PTSD, anxiety and depressive disorders; the Asthma Illness Representation Scale (AIRS) to assess beliefs about their children's asthma; and the childhood asthma control test (C-ACT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One in five caregivers had PTSD, and these caregivers had lower total AIRS scores, lower scores on the AIRS Emotional Aspects of Medication Use subscale, and the AIRS Nature of Symptoms subscale, indicating illness beliefs less aligned with the professional model. Caregivers with PTSD were more likely to perceive asthma as an acute, difficult to control illness and focused on the emotional aspects of medication use. There was no relationship between PTSD in caregivers and self-report of their children's asthma control, but children with poorly controlled asthma had caregivers with lower total AIRS scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Caregivers' traumatic experiences impact their beliefs about their children's asthma. Future interventions targeting these beliefs could improve the manner in which they understand and treat their children's asthma.
authors: Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University , Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors: Dara M
authors: DM
authors: Steinberg
authors: Kimberly
authors: K
authors: Sidora-Arcoleo
authors: Denise
authors: D
authors: Serebrisky
authors: Jonathan M
authors: JM
authors: Feldman
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D001249:Asthma / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D011647:Puerto Rico; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*