Emotional distress in family caregivers of adolescents with bronchial asthma: analysis of its predictors.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescents with asthma face problems inherent to this stage in their development, to which the challenges of taking over control of their disease, complying with a daily treatment and regular medical followup are added. Any rejection generated by this may lead to treatment non-adherence and poor asthma control, which brings about problems in family dynamics, made worse by the stress or the emotional distress that this situation causes in caregivers.

OBJECTIVE: Identify adjustment profiles and predictors of risk for the well-being of caregivers of pediatric patients with bronchial asthma.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy-nine family caregivers of pediatric patients with bronchial asthma. Instruments were used to assess the emotional status (Hospital Anxiety and DepressionScale, HADS) and the perceived level of stress associated with medical care of a pediatric patient (Pediatric Inventory for Parents, PIP). We analyzed the patient's medical outcome measures and the family caregiver's psychological outcome measures regarding their emotional distress and stress.

RESULTS: Of all caregivers studied, 34.8% exhibit anxiety symptomatology and moderate perceived stress. Emotional symptomatology correlates positively and significantly with the stress level. The models that best predict emotional distress of caregivers (40-50% of explained variance) include time since diagnosis and patient's treatment burden as stress indicators.

CONCLUSIONS: The presence of stress resulting from care, time of exposure and burden of treatments associated with the disease are identified as the main predictors of risk for the well-being of caregivers.