Coping with Asthma in the Central City: Parental Experiences with Children’s Health Care

Asthma is the most common chronic illness among children in the United States. Poverty and asthma are tightly related, with poor children having higher rates of asthma than non-poor children. To document how poor parents with asthmatic children cope with health care-related barriers on a day-to-day basis, the author conducted 38 in-depth interviews with central city Phoenix (Arizona) parents. Barriers facing parents include a lack of health insurance and/or personal transportation, the expense of using private insurance, treatment delays, and language/communication. Instances of parents overcoming barriers are highlighted and offered as opportunities for designing capacity building interventions and policies that build on parents’ strengths.