Living with and self-managing difficult asthma: a qualitative study

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    The experience of living with and self-managing difficult asthma: a qualitative study of illness perceptions, multimorbidity, and quality of life

  • IRAS ID

    265716

  • Contact name

    Sabina-Claudia Stanescu

  • Contact email

    s.stanescu@soton.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Southampton

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 5 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Severe asthma describes a separate diagnosis of a small proportion of the asthma population, yet one that is responsible with the largest part of morbidity, mortality and cost of disease. Patients are more likely to live with physical and psychological of physical morbidities, which further impact quality of life and asthma control.
    Little is known about the illness representations of people with severe or difficult to control asthma, particularly in the context of other conditions. This could inform the identification of barriers to adherence to self-management strategies and treatment, as well as decisions to engage with non-pharmacological interventions.
    An estimated number of 20-25 people with difficult to control or severe asthma alongside other physical and psychological conditions will be recruited and invited to take part in semi-structured interviews (anticipated to take 30 minutes to an hour). Qualitative semi-structured interviews will contain questions on the experience of living with asthma, medication and treatment adherence, prioritization, coping strategies, self-management, quality of life and the impact of asthma, activity limitation and other similar concepts. Additionally, the need for and relevance of non-pharmacological interventions will be discussed.

  • REC name

    South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    19/SC/0519

  • Date of REC Opinion

    14 Oct 2019

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion