Illness Representations and Self Management Behaviors of African American Adolesc

描述(由申请人提供)：非裔美国青少年哮喘是一个重要的公共卫生问题。对他们疾病的自我管理往往不充分，这可能导致发病率和死亡率的增加。哮喘自我管理包括症状管理、用药管理、环境控制等一系列行为。有必要研究如何提高青少年的自我管理能力。增加理解和指导干预的一个潜在框架是来自常识自我调节模型的疾病表现概念[14]。该模型提出，对疾病的信念(即疾病陈述)影响健康行为，并随后影响疾病结果。对哮喘青少年的疾病陈述和哮喘自我管理之间的关系知之甚少。如果青少年关于哮喘的不准确的疾病陈述(认知或情感)被发现与糟糕的自我管理行为有关，他们将是护理干预的极好目标，因为这种信念可能会改变。很少有研究探讨疾病陈述与哮喘、损害和性别之间的关系。因此，本研究将进行描述性相关研究，以达到以下目的：(A)探讨非洲裔美国哮喘青少年在疾病表征(认知和情绪)和自我管理行为(症状管理、用药管理和环境控制)上的性别差异；(B)探讨非洲裔美国哮喘青少年疾病表征(认知和情绪)与哮喘自我管理行为(症状管理、用药管理和环境控制)之间的关系及其与性别和哮喘损害(控制良好、控制不佳或控制很差)之间的交互作用。数据将通过对120名非洲裔美国青少年的问卷调查来收集。这一发现将为未来改善非裔美国青少年哮喘自我管理的干预措施提供指导。与NINR的使命一致，这项申请旨在提高博士前申请者的目标，成为一名专注于青少年哮喘的知名研究人员。相关性：哮喘是非裔美国青少年的一个重大公共卫生问题。这项研究将有助于了解非裔美国青少年对哮喘的看法与他们哮喘自我管理的关系。这一认识将指导以患者为中心的干预措施的发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Asthma in African American adolescents is a significant public health problem. Self-management of their illness is often inadequate, which can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Asthma self-management involves an array of behaviors such as symptom management, medication management, and controlling the environment. There is a need to investigate ways to improve adolescents' self-management. One potential framework to increase understanding and guide interventions is the illness representations concept from The Common Sense Self-Regulation Model [14]. The model proposes that beliefs about an illness (i.e., illness representations) influence health behaviors and, subsequently, illness outcomes. Little is known about the relationship between illness representations and asthma self-management in adolescents with asthma. If adolescents' inaccurate illness representations (cognitive or emotional) about asthma are found to be associated with poor self-management behaviors, they would be excellent targets for nursing interventions because such beliefs would potentially be changeable. There has been little research examining how illness representations are related to asthma impairment and gender. Therefore, a descriptive correlational study will be conducted to achieve the following aims: (a) To explore differences in illness representations (cognitive and emotional) and self-management behaviors (symptom management, medication management, and environmental control) by gender and asthma impairment (well controlled, not well controlled, or very poorly controlled) of African American adolescents with asthma; (b) To explore relationships between illness representations (cognitive and emotional) and asthma self-management behaviors (symptom management, medication management, and environmental control) and their interactions with gender and asthma impairment in African American adolescents with asthma. Data will be collected through questionnaires with 120 African American adolescents. The findings will provide guidance for future interventions that improve African American adolescents' asthma self-management. Consistent with NINR's mission, this application is designed to enhance the goals of the predoctoral applicant to become an established researcher focusing on adolescents with asthma. Relevance: Asthma is a significant public health problem for African American adolescents. This study will provide an understanding of African American adolescents' beliefs about asthma as related to their asthma self-management. This understanding will guide the development of patient-centered interventions.