The effect of Family-Centered Empowerment Model on self-efficacy and self-esteem of the children with asthma

Background: Asthma is considered as the most common chronic disease of childhood that can cause missing school and daily limits. It can also have effects on physical, psychological, and social well-being in children. Therefore, improving two indicators of self-efficacy and self-esteem seem of utmost importance in this domain. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of family-centered empowerment model (FCEM) on self-efficacy and self-esteem in children with asthma. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 60 children along with their parents were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. Then, family-centered empowerment model was implemented for the experimental group lasting seven 30-minute sessions. After that, self-efficacy and self-esteem were similarly evaluated by distributing questionnaires in both groups before and after the intervention. Moreover, the data were analyzed using the SPSS Software as well as descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, independent t-test, and paired t-test). Results: The self-efficacy scores of all children in the experimental group before (2.95±0.33) and after (3.97±0.49) the intervention showed a significant difference (P=0.0001). Meanwhile, a significant difference was observed in the self-esteem scores of all children in the experimental group before (0.62±0.13) and after (0.77±0.08) the intervention (P=0.0001), while self-efficacy scores of the individuals in the control group before (2.86±0.49) and after (2.88±0.40) the intervention suggested no significant difference (P=0.607) in this respect. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in self-efficacy scores of the control group before (0.67±0.17) and after (0.67±0.13) the intervention (P=0.845). Conclusion: It seems that empowerment (FCEM) of children suffering from asthma can lead to increased self-efficacy and self-esteem and help them to have an efficient care, and also may result in improvements in their roles. Therefore, further studies are recommended in this domain.