AB001. A correlational study on psychological adaptation among parents of children with asthma and chronic cardiovascular diseases

Background: Among the most common pediatric chronic conditions are asthma and chronic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), each presenting unique management challenges. The study aimed to analyze and understand the correlation of six Family Management Measure (FaMM) key subscales: (I) child’s daily life and view of condition impact; (II) condition management ability and condition management effort; and (III) parental mutuality and family life difficulty, among parents of children with asthma and those of children with CVD at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center.

Methods: With a quantitative descriptive correlational design, the study gathered data using the FaMM, a validated tool assessing six domains of family management of chronic illness, from 64 parents (32 from each group) who met the criteria from the outpatient clinic.

Results: Significant correlations were found among parents of children with asthma across all tested relationships. Condition management effort was moderately negatively correlated with the child’s daily life (r=−0.483, P=0.005). Condition management ability showed a strong negative correlation with view of condition impact (r=−0.754, P<0.001). Condition management effort was also negatively correlated with parental mutuality (r=−0.411, P=0.04), while condition management ability demonstrated a strong negative correlation with family life difficulty (r=−0.746, P<0.001). In contrast, among parents of children with chronic CVD, no statistically significant correlations were observed across the tested relationships, with all P values ≥0.05.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that psychological adaptation among asthma parents is closely related to their perceived caregiving competence and family management dynamics. Conversely, the absence of similar correlations in the CVD parents indicated the potential need for more specialized psychosocial interventions due to more complex stressors. This highlights the importance of caregiver psychological support into pediatric chronic care and suggests that condition-specific approaches may enhance caregiver well-being and improve health outcomes for families affected by the chronic illnesses.

Keywords: Chronic cardiovascular diseases (chronic CVDs); family management; pediatric asthma; psychological adaptations