Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec 27:16:1349-1359.
doi: 10.2147/JAA.S438318. eCollection 2023.

Factors Involved in Decision-Making Dilemmas Faced by Parents of Children with Severe Asthma in PICU During the Development of Discharge Care Plans: A Phenomenological Study

Guimei Fan  1 , Mo Yi  2 , Xiangmin Qiu  1 , Jinfang Zhao  1
Affiliations

Factors Involved in Decision-Making Dilemmas Faced by Parents of Children with Severe Asthma in PICU During the Development of Discharge Care Plans: A Phenomenological Study

Guimei Fan et al. J Asthma Allergy. .

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore the complicated decision-making dilemma and challenges confronted by parents of children suffering from severe asthma within the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) when participating in the development of their children's discharge care plans.

Patients and methods: Employing a phenomenological methodology, a purposive sampling was performed to engage with 17 parents who participated in in-depth and semi-structured interviews between October 2022 and February 2023. The transcripts of these interviews were transcribed into textual data, which was then subjected to Colaizzi's seven-step analysis for meticulous coding and comprehensive thematic elucidation.

Results: The comprehensive analysis of the factors involved in the intricate decision-making dilemmas faced by parents of children with severe asthma during the process of crafting discharge care plans in the PICU revealed five themes and eight sub-themes: 1) Complexity of asthma-related information; 2) Insufficient provision of comprehensive decision-making support; 3) Encountering negative emotions and wavering confidence; 4) Navigating realistic constraints impacting both parents and HCPs; 5) Balancing the advantages and disadvantages of various plans.

Conclusion: Parents of children with severe asthma in the PICU encounter intricate and multifaceted decision-making dilemmas while engaging in the formulation of discharge care plans. These complexities significantly dampen their decision-making enthusiasm and introduce potential risks to the children's prognosis and recovery. In the future, it is imperative to leverage the guidance provided by healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the decision-making process, develop tailored decision support tools specifically designed for the formulation of discharge care plans for children with severe asthma in the PICU.

Keywords: decision-making dilemma; discharge care plan; parents; phenomenological study; severe asthma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Licari A, Brambilla I, Marseglia A, De Filippo M, Paganelli V, Marseglia GL. Difficult vs. severe asthma: definition and limits of asthma control in the pediatric population. Front Pediatr. 2018;6:170. doi:10.3389/fped.2018.00170 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pijnenburg MW, Fleming L. Advances in understanding and reducing the burden of severe asthma in children. Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8(10):1032–1044. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30399-4 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Versiani NPDQ, Goncalves AC, Cruz AA, De lima BFLL. Lung function in severe pediatric asthma: a longitudinal study in children and adolescents in Brazil. Clin Transl Allergy. 2017;7:48. doi:10.1186/s13601-017-0183-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ross KR, Gupta R, DeBoer MD, et al. Severe asthma during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal study. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2020;145(1):140–146. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2019.09.030 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Larenas-Linnemann D, Nieto A, Palomares O, Pitrez PM, Cukier G. Moving toward consensus on diagnosis and management of severe asthma in children. Curr Med Res Opin. 2018;34(3):447–458. doi:10.1080/03007995.2017.1400961 - DOI - PubMed