Exploration of Psychological Correlates of Asthma and Development of a Mindfulness-Based Asthma Management Programme

Asthma is a common condition characterized by reversible airflow obstruction, airway inflammation, and increased bronchial responsiveness to a variety of stimuli, ranging from allergens and other irritants to strong emotions (National Heart Lung & Blood Institute, 1997). Mere biological models are insufficient as an explanation for the onset, exacerbation, and maintenance of asthma symptoms (Wright, Rodriguez & Cohen, 1998). This heterogenic nature of the disease itself marks the need and significance of the present study. Mindfulness has proven to be an effective intervention for many diseases and conditions when used in conjunction with other modes of treatment. So, the present study attempts to develop a mindfulness-based asthma management program, which is hardly attempted by researchers in the past.

The aim of the study is to explore the psychological correlates affecting the experience and expression of symptoms in patients diagnosed with asthma and design a comprehensive asthma management program and implement the proposed intervention on patients diagnosed with asthma for the fine-tuning of the intervention. The current study adopts a multi-method qualitative research design and the method of the study can be elaborated under two broad phases, a pilot phase, and the main phase. The pilot phase started with getting familiar with the psychological variable in the context of asthma. An extensive analysis of previous studies was done and an unstructured interview was conducted with Pulmonologists for understanding their perspectives on the psychological factors involved in asthma. Based on these sources of data, a schedule for the semi-structured interview was prepared and was later used in the main phase.