Exploring the high rates of paediatric asthma hospital admissions in an innercity area of Birmingham

Background: Birmingham has high paediatric asthma hospital admission rates. Understanding illness perceptions could inform interventions to address this. Methods: Four focus groups were conducted with 25 children who had an asthma attack with hospital admission after January 2010, and interviews with15 parents of such children. These were supplemented with modified versions of the IPQR and International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children Questionnaire. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Three main themes emerged: Illness Representations; Care and Support; Environmental Factors. Participants believed asthma is severe but can be controlled. Parents felt GP care was inadequate and wanted help, medication and nebulisers/oxygen available at home to prevent hospital admission. Discussion: Illness representations, including causation beliefs, combined with parental beliefs about the adequacy of care can help understand high hospital admissions. Intervention mapping will be applied to the data, and a systematic review, to design and implement an intervention.