| The prevalence of asthma has increased substantially from 4.2% in 1986 to 13.0% in 1996 among children and adolescents in Bangkok, Thailand. This correlational, model-testing study examined the relationships among self-esteem, resourceful coping, and self-management behavior in Thai asthmatic adolescents. Within the context of Rosenbaum's theory of learned resourcefulness, a convenience sample of 132 Thai adolescents with asthma was recruited from outpatient asthma clinics of four hospitals in Bangkok. Of these participants, 62.1% were males (n = 82), and 37.9% were females (n = 50). The average age of the participants was 13.5 years (SD = 1.5). Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires, including an assessment of demographic information and asthma status, the Asthma Self-Care Practice Instrument, the Children Self-Control Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the revised Family APGAR Scale. The participants were also asked to perform peak flow meter tests (PFM).; Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to explain the relationships among the variables. Percent predicted peak expiratory flow (PEF) was not significantly related to self-management behaviors. After controlling for setting, age, and gender, neither family functioning nor self-esteem contributed significantly to the explanation of the variance in self-management behavior. Only a small amount of variance (2.1%) in self-management behavior was explained by resourceful coping. In addition, the results showed that only the relationship between percent predicted PEF and resourceful coping approached significance. Family functioning had a significant positive effect on self-esteem (beta = .27, p < .01), and resourceful coping (beta = .30, p < .01), after controlling for setting, gender and age. The correlation between self-esteem and resourceful coping approached significance (beta = .15, p = .08).; The findings have implications for pediatric nursing practice in that nursing interventions should focus on the importance of family functioning in promoting self-esteem and resourceful coping in Thai adolescents with asthma. The findings also provide tentative evidence to support the usefulness of Rosenbaum's conceptual model of learned resourcefulness. Further research should replicate this study in a larger sample of adolescents with asthma as well as in adolescents with other chronic illnesses. |
