Asthma and Physical Activity: Assessment of Maternal Attitudes and Beliefs towards Physical Activity of Asthmatic Children in Yerevan, Armenia

Abstract

Literature review/background information. Consistently, studies conducted worldwide have found that regular physical activity for children with chronic asthma is beneficial. In spite of international guidelines for managing childhood asthma recommending equal participation with healthy children in physical activities, physical activity is still believed to be detrimental for asthmatic children—in addition, asthma is believed by parents, children and sometimes physicians as a barrier to exercise. The aim of this research is to study the associations between maternal beliefs and attitudes towards the child's physical activity and the level of physical activity of the asthmatic child in Yerevan, Armenia. Methods. The study design was an analytical cross-sectional survey with some abstractions from medical records. The research proposal was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of American University of Armenia. The study population was mothers of children aged 6-14 years who have been diagnosed with asthma and were attending “Arabkir” Medical Center. Participants were reached by telephone. The study conducted a census of eligible mothers, thus the power of the study (0.86) was calculated afterwards considering a significance level of 0.05 and sample size of 121. Basic descriptive statistics were used for describing demographic characteristics. Simple and multiple regression analysis were performed to test relational hypotheses: the associations between the main variables, while controlling for potential confounding and interactions. Results and discussion. The majority of surveyed children were boys (86%). Roughly half of the participants (52%) were from Yerevan, 33% from other cities of Armenia, and 15% from villages. Of mothers, 69% supposed physical activity as a possible trigger for asthma attack, 51% thought that asthma symptoms can get worse because of exercising, and 47% considered that children with asthma should avoid exercising. Majority of mothers (84%) reported that their child's physical activities were limited; including 60% of participants reported very limited activity levels for their children. The association between maternal beliefs and physical activity limitation was found to be statistically significant (p-value much less than 0.05). After adjusting for severity of asthma, mother’s beliefs and attitudes score showed an independent association with the asthmatic child’s level of physical activity— indicating that health education and promotion interventions that change mothers’ misbeliefs and unfavorable attitudes towards physical activity for their asthmatic child may promote an increase in physical activity level of these children thus benefiting them. Conclusion and recommendations. The current study found that some mothers restrict physical activities of their asthmatic child based on misbeliefs and detrimental attitudes towards physical activity and its relationship with asthma, independent of the severity of asthma. Based on these findings and the published literature, it is recommended that awareness among mothers and some physicians should be raised about the beneficial effects of physical activities for asthmatic children, leading to the reduction in restrictions on the activities of these children, with prescription of appropriate physical activity program for children with asthma to achieve better asthma control.