title: Quality of life of asthmatic children and adolescents: relation to maternal coping.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the quality of life of asthmatic children and adolescents, its relation with sociodemographic and clinical variables, and maternal coping strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study in which children and adolescents with asthma answered a quality of life questionnaire, and their mothers did the same with a coping scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 42 children and adolescents investigated, 74% were classified as having mild/severe persistent asthma; 19%, mild persistent asthma; and 7%, intermittent asthma. A total of 69% of the participants showed impaired quality of life with mean scores ranging between 4.7 and 3.5, with greater harm in the domain of symptoms (score=3.6). There was a significant association between maternal schooling and the general index of quality of life, whereas maternal coping strategies were not associated with the severity of asthma. A large number of strategies used by mothers to cope with their children's crises were related to the management of stressors or to religious practices, and the latter presented negative correlation with the children's quality of life general index, showing that mothers whose children had worse quality of life used more religious coping.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Asthmatic children, particularly those with moderate/severe persistent asthma, showed significant alterations as to quality of life. The high percentage of mothers using religious strategies, particularly in face of more severe clinical conditions, seem to indicate that they feel powerless to act, thus requiring concrete and useful orientation to low income families.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Botucatu da Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (Unesp), Botucatu, SP, Brasil. gimol@fmb.unesp.br
authors.forename: Gimol Benzaquen
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Perosa
authors.forename: Isabel de Andrade
authors.initials: Ide A
authors.lastname: Amato
authors.forename: Ligia Maria S S
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Rugolo
authors.forename: Giesela Fleisher
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Maria Carolina F A
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors