Abstract
Key points
Asthma patients want help to improve their ability to function in their daily lives (physical, social, occupational and emotional).
Awareness of patients’ problems and a willingness to treat them may improve both asthma control and quality of life.
The clinician and the patient should negotiate a treatment plan that addresses both asthma control and the patient's needs, and that the patient is willing to follow.
Valid, easy-to-use, self-administered asthma quality-of-life questionnaires can be used in the clinic to identify quickly the patient's specific problems and treatment goals.
Educational aims
To define HRQL and emphasise its importance in patients with asthma.
To describe the HRQL impairments experienced by adults and children with asthma.
To discuss the role of HRQL in clinical practice and the concept of shared decision making.
To provide information on the selection, methods of administration, analysis, interpretation and cultural adaptation of HRQL questionnaires
Summary An important contributor to poor patient compliance with treatment instructions may be a discrepancy between the goals of the clinician and those of the patient. Improved clinician awareness of patients’ asthma-related quality-of-life goals and a readiness to address them may enhance patients’ willingness to take medications and, thus, improve both their asthma control and their quality of life. The aim of this article is to explain how quick, valid, easy-to-use, self-administered and clinic-friendly HRQL can be used to identify patients’ greatest needs, ascertain how troublesome they are and ensure that they are included in the treatment plan. HRQL questionnaires can also be used to monitor patient progress over time.
- ©ERS 2005
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