Neglect, Adherence and Depression in Asthmatic Children

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Low-income, urban children with asthma are vulnerable to the adverse impact of neglect, given their increased morbidity and the complex, long-term treatment regimens for asthma. Neglect may lead to poor asthma control directly via treatment nonadherence, or indirectly, via the effect of neglect on children's adjustment. The primary aim of this study is to examine how neglect, defined specifically in terms of family systems properties, is related cross-sectionally and longitudinally to treatment nonadherence for children with asthma. The secondary aim is to investigate how neglect and children's perceived relatedness with the primary caregiver are cross-sectionally and longitudinally related to children's depressive symptoms. The sample will be 160 low-income children (ages 6 -11) with persistent asthma and their primary caregivers, recruited from primary care and emergency walk-in clinics in a public, urban hospital. Adherence behaviors (use of inhaled anti-inflammatory agents, MDI/spacer technique, exposure to tobacco smoke) will be assessed directly via observation, electronic monitoring, or lab test. Depressive symptoms will be assessed by child and caregiver report. Neglect is conceptualized, according to the Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM), as low caregiver proximity, low caregiver responsivity, and lax/inconsistent caregiver discipline. Participants will be administered measures during a home visit and a lab visit at enrollment (T1) and one year later (T2). Based on a conceptual model adapted from the BBFM, hypotheses state that: (1) poor adherence will be predicted by low levels of knowledge about asthma, high levels of neglect, greater levels of child depressive symptoms, and an insecure pattern of perceived relatedness with the primary caregiver, with neglect contributing a significant increment in the variance above that accounted for by knowledge; and (2) depressive symptoms will be predicted by high levels of neglect and an insecure pattern of relatedness, with relatedness moderating the relationship between neglect and depressive symptoms.