JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Electronic medication monitoring (EMM) is a digital tool that can be used for tracking daily medication use. Previous studies of EMM in asthma have examined experiences of adults or have studied pediatric interventions that use EMM for less than a year. To understand acceptance of an EMM-enhanced intervention, we explore the experiences of parents of children with asthma, recruited from outpatient practices for a 12-month intervention trial.

Objective:

Through qualitative inquiry, we studied: (1) How did using the intervention change parents/caregivers’ experiences of managing their child’s asthma, and (2) What do parents recommend for improving the intervention in the future?

Methods:

Parents were recruited from the intervention arm of a multi-component, health intervention enhanced by Bluetooth-enabled sensors placed on inhaler medications. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 parents of children with asthma (4-12 years old). Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and inductively analyzed using a constant comparative approach.

Results:

Interview participants reflected an even mix of publicly and privately insured children and a diverse racial-ethnic demographic. Parents discussed six key themes related to their experience with the EMM-enhanced intervention: compatibility with their lifestyle, the impact on asthma management, impact on their child’s health, emotional impact of the intervention, children’s engagement in asthma management with the intervention, and recommendations for future intervention design.

Conclusions:

Our qualitative study of parents found that the intervention with EMM over 12 months was overall compatible with their daily lives, positively influenced their preventive and acute asthma management, and promoted child engagement. Parents in our study found the intervention acceptable and generally favorable. While use of technology-enhanced tools are increasingly popular in healthcare delivery and consumer health care, our study highlighted that careful attention must also be paid to the unique needs of parents of children with asthma and understanding how a digital tool can be adopted into their daily disease management.