Mothers of ill children experienced uncertainty before asthma was diagnosed in their children
Question What are the experiences of mothers of ill children before asthma is diagnosed in their children?
Design
Grounded theory.
Setting
{Georgia}*, USA.
Patients
12 English speaking mothers of European (n=9) and African descent (n=3) who had 15 children with asthma (age range 6–18 y) and 8 healthy children (age range 3–9 y). There were 3 single parent families, 1 extended family, and 8 nuclear families. 3 families had 1 child each, 7 families had 2 children each, and 2 families had 3 children each. The children with asthma began experiencing symptoms during the first year of life.
Methods
3 60–90 minute interviews were conducted in the families' homes. An item, tell me how all of this began for you, was added to the questionnaire before the second round of interviews and yielded rich data. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed within 1 week. Transcribed interviews were analysed and coded for descriptions of the mothers' behaviours and perceptions and the …
