This qualitative inquiry study used purposed sampling through the semi-structured in-depth interviews to obtain the experience of mothers with 1st to 3rd grades children with asthma assisting their child's adaptation of school life.

Methods

A total of fifteen mothers having elementary school 1st to 3rd grades children with asthma were interviewed. It took thirty-five minutes of each interview. The participants were contacted at the outpatient department of a medical center in Taiwan. Verbatim transcriptions of the interviews were examined by the content analysis method. Sample size was determined by the saturation principle. After the analysis of the interview data of fifteen informants, no new themes had emerged. Lincoln and Cuba's trustworthiness criteria were employed to evaluate methodological rigor.

Results

The result indicated that there were four themes from the experience: (1) being concerned about adaptation of school life, (2) improving habitude and relieving symptoms, (3)cultivating child's self-management abilities, (4) bearing the role strain and normalizing the life of children.

Conclusion

The findings of this study can help health professionals and school teachers to understand the needs of family and mothers having a child with asthma, and provides appropriate information and resources to assist their children to adjust the school life.