Watt (2003) improving adherence

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To see if using the funhaler can improve the adherence to a medical regime for asthma in children

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

Experiment

Question 3

Participants

Answer 3

32 Australian children 10m 22fm aged 1.5 - 6

All gad diagnose asthma and prescribes drugs with full parental consent

Question 4

Procedure

Answer 4

Repeated measures design
1st week - child given normal inhaler ‘breath-a-tech’ to use for a week and parent answered a questionnaire
2nd week - children used ‘funhaler’ and parents given a similar questionnaire with matched questions

Question 5

Results

Answer 5

38% more parents found to have medicated their children the previous day when using the funhaler compared to existing treatment

Question 6

Conclusion

Answer 6

Previous research gave reasons to that non-adherence in children for asthma was caused by things like boredom, forgetfulness
Funhaler set out to solve this by reinforcing correct usage with a spinner and a whistle.
This improved adherence to the medication, so by making the regime fun adherence certainly in children can be improved