Managing pre-school wheeze: A qualitative study of parents’ views and experiences

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore parents' views and experiences of managing preschool wheeze, including opinions on the use of investigations to inform treatment pathways. DESIGN: Purposive sampling was used to recruit 16 participants from 14 families across England and Wales. Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews with parents of children aged 1 to 5 years with preschool wheeze, conducted on Microsoft (MS) Teams. Data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis, facilitated by NVivo software package. RESULTS: Analysis generated four themes (1) Pathway to diagnosis (2) Medication management (3) Living with preschool wheeze (4) Improving preschool wheeze healthcare. Findings suggest a negative impact of preschool wheeze on families’ lives, including high levels of worry and limiting capacity for work and travel. Barriers to effective management of preschool wheeze included inconsistent terminologies and diagnostic uncertainty alongside limited education and management support. Other barriers related to parental concerns about medications, delayed investigations, and challenges with accessing specialist care. Parents were in favour of performing investigations to guide treatment pathways. CONCLUSION: Parents’ views highlight the problem of diagnosing and treating preschool wheeze at multiple system levels. To improve management and ensure services for children with preschool wheeze are effective, there is an urgent need for consistent terminology, a unified approach to guide investigations and treatments, and to upskill healthcare professionals in primary and secondary care.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2024-327781
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Psychology
Additional Information: Copyright © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group. his article has been accepted for publication in Archives of Diseases in Childhood, 2024 following peer review, and the Version of Record can be accessed online at: [https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2024-327781]. Reuse of this manuscript version (excluding any databases, tables, diagrams, photographs and other images or illustrative material included where a another copyright owner is identified) is permitted strictly pursuant to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: paediatrics,qualitative research,respiratory medicine,Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Publication ISSN: 1468-2044
Last Modified: 25 Mar 2025 18:43
Date Deposited: 12 Dec 2024 13:38
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://adc.bmj ... ild-2024-327781 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2024-12-11
Published Online Date: 2024-12-11
Accepted Date: 2024-11-27
Authors: Wajid, Lubna
Saglani, Sejal
Nagakumar, Prasad
Heath, Gemma (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-1569-5576)

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