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Comparison of Parent and Student Responses to Asthma Surveys: Students Grades 3‐12 and Their Parents From a Suburban Private School Setting
Author(s) -
Yawn Barbara P.,
Wollan Peter,
Kurland Marge,
Bertram Susan
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2006.0104_2.x
Subject(s) - asthma , psychology , private school , school health , medical education , family medicine , developmental psychology , mathematics education , medicine
Schools are being called upon to help address asthma, a common problem in school‐aged children. School‐based asthma programs need information about asthma diagnoses, asthma symptoms, and asthma’s impact on school attendance. Parent or student surveys are the most common method of collecting these data. However, medical literature offers little guidance to help schools determine whether parents or students are the most appropriate and effective source of asthma‐related information. This study compares student and parent responses to the same set of asthma‐related questions. In general, parents and students have a high level of agreement in reporting the absence of an asthma diagnosis or asthma symptoms. When parents and students disagreed, students reported many more asthmalike symptoms, especially symptoms with exercise and symptoms at night, than did their parents. The disparity in student and parent symptom reporting did not vary by age of the student. Students appear to provide the most sensitive measure of asthma‐related problems. (J Sch Health. 2006;76(6):241‐245)