P0294 - Parents' Knowledge and Acceptability of Mindfulness for Pediatric Asthma Care

Background: In the United States, there are 6.4 million (8.4%) children with asthma. Mindfulness has been shown to improve quality of life and reduce stress for adult asthma patients, but use of this technique has not yet been explored in pediatric asthma patients.

Objective: This study aimed to assess knowledge of mindfulness and perceived acceptability to learn about this technique from a health care provider among parents of children with and without asthma, and differences across demographic factors.

Methods: We conducted a national, cross-sectional, online survey. Parents of children 0-18 years were recruited from Qualtrics panels. Participants indicated whether at least one child had asthma. Knowledge of mindfulness was assessed using an instrument adapted from a previous study including 11 true-false statements about mindfulness (e.g., “Mindfulness can contribute to a healthy lifestyle”). Acceptability was measured with questions on whether parents would be willing to learn about mindfulness and if they would be willing to learn from their health care provider. All responses used a 5-point Likert scale. Comparisons of mindfulness acceptability between demographic groups were conducted using chi-square and Fisher's exact test.

Results: Participants included 3000 parents; most were female (87%) and white (82%) with an average age of 37.1 years (SD=10.2). Participants averaged 6.3 (SD=3.2) out of 11 correctly labeled knowledge statements. Over a quarter of participants (n=797, 27%) had children with asthma; they had an average of 6.6 (SD=3.07) out of 11 correctly labeled knowledge statements. Parents of children with asthma were more likely to be willing to learn about mindfulness from their health care provider compared to those without asthma (46% vs. 38%, p<0.0001). College educated parents were more willing to learn about mindfulness compared to parents without a college education (p<0.05). College educated parents of children with and without asthma (p=0.47) did not differ in their likelihood to show interest in learning about mindfulness techniques.

Conclusion: Findings suggest an opportunity to incorporate mindfulness teaching into asthma care for pediatric patients with the goal to reduce stress and improve quality of life for asthma patients. Next steps include evaluating effects of mindfulness on asthma care for children.