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Like coding, theming is a skill that requires practice to become proficient. In this assignment, you will continue your analysis of two interview transcripts by developing themes from the categories you created in the previous assignment. This experience will mimic the process and feeling of coding a large study, though on a much smaller scale.
General Requirements:Use the following information to ensure successful completion of the assignment:
Locate and download the document “Assignment Resource: Theming” attached to this assignment.
Locate and download the interview transcripts attached to this assignment
Refer to your submission from the Topic 3 assignment, “Coding.”
College of Doctoral Studies
RES-883 Interview Transcript 1
Directions: Use the transcript below to complete the Topic 3 and Topic 5 assignments.
Asthma Beliefs and Practices in an Urban Minority Community in Western New York
Interview #31 at participant’s home
Interviewer (I)
Respondent (R)
Respondent’s Husband (RH)
Study Problem
There is a high prevalence of asthma and related poor health outcomes in urban, minority
communities in the Northeast of the U.S. Little is known about how asthma is perceived and
managed in these communities.
Study Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how adults with asthma living in urban minority
communities in the Northeast of the U.S. perceive and manage their illness.
RQ1
How do adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the Northeast of the U.S.
perceive their illness?
RQ2
How do adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the Northeast of the U.S.
manage their asthma?
I (Q.1): People have different ideas about what asthma is. What do you think is asthma?
As far as you know, what do you think it is?
R: Well my opinion would be something like a lung disease, um, that when a patient would get
asthma it can be triggered because of a cold, or … When it comes to asthma patients they are so
sensitive and, I don’t know, from so much experience that I’ve gone through with my daughter
I’ve kind of learned as … everytime she gets it I’ve learned something new of how to try to
avoid it. So, um, my opinion is that it’s a lung disease.
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I: When did you first learned about asthma? What happened?
R: O.K. my sister, the youngest, well not the youngest, the middle, she was diagnosed with
asthma when she was three months old.
I: And how old is your sister?
R: She is 20 years old now.
I: So, you’ve known about asthma for many years.
R: For many years, and she suffers from chronic asthma. And I remember most of my years
when I used to live at home with my parents she was constantly in and out of the hospital
because she was so sensitive and, um, that’s where I really got to know the meaning and
understanding about asthma. Cause I used to see how my Mom used to prepare all the solution
for the inhaler and all that and give her the, [not the inhaler the machine], and there was times
when she would only had that little wheezing and how she would show her how to use the
inhaler by herself and that’s, I always kind of said I hope I never have to go through this with my
kids because this is scary, you know. There was times when I remember my sister used to say I
just can’t breathe, she would like to try to, I need air, and I was like I hope I never have to get to
go through that experience. A couple of years ago I really did go went through that experience
myself with my daughter and it was very, very scary.
I: How old is your daughter?
R: My daughters’ upstairs, she six years old.
I: What was her first experience with asthma like? What happened the first time that she
was diagnosed with asthma?
R: O.K. At the time the lady that used to take care of her, her husband was a very, he was
chain-smoker…
I: …you are talking about your sister, right?
R: No, my daughter.
I: Oh, your daughter, O.K.
R: And this lady used to take care of my daughter and when I was, when I had to take him over
and this and that and I never knew that he had this kind of problem, his smoking, because she
was the kind of person, to church and all that. I never got to really have the chance to get to
know her husband until all this happened. Well one day I received a call at work and it was my
husband saying that my daughter had problems breathing, he had to rush her to the hospital.
And, I’m like breathing, what do you mean? And then he said the sitter was telling me that she
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spent most of today with her knees on the floor and her head resting on the cushion of her love
seat, trying to seek for air. I remember it was the winter, I believe it was January or February, it
was the coldest months of the year. And, you know how you keep all the windows closed and
the man was just smoking along in the house and my husband that when he went to pick her up
as soon the open the door there was a huge cloud of smoke was in that apartment. And that’s
her.
I: Hi, how are you? [R’s daughter: Fine.] I: She so cute.
R: And um we rush her to the hospital and that’s when they really didn’t diagnose it yet, with
asthma, they said it was a respiratory infection. So she stood there for a couple of days and she
was under a tent of oxygen, they were kind of keeping an eye on her and she was fine after that,
after a couple of days when she came back home. They didn’t even send me home with a
machine they just said, oh, they gave her some steroids, and they said she should be fine after
this.
I: For a respiratory infection they gave her steroids?
R: They gave her some kind of steroids, yeah. And I think it was for three days she had to drink
the steroids and after that she was fine. But they I noticed that every January or February she
ended up in the hospital really ill, cause of the asthma. First it would start as a cold, then it hear
the wheezing and that, and that’s when they said I’m sorry to tell you this, but your daughter,
she’s diagnosed with asthma. I … how can I explain .. I was like why is this happening to me,
but they said you just have to try to deal with it, we’re going to send you home with the machine,
they kind of should be how to use [abitrol ..] how to mix everything in there. I remember after
that they said try to follow-up with your primary doctor, Dr. Jaén. And he’s been great, I’m
telling you I remember after a couple of times going to the hospital when I finally some him he
was like why is she going in the hospital so often, this is no good. And then when they used to
send me home with another prescription of steroids and he said this is no good for her because
she’s still little this can affect her growth in the future, you know, and I’m like well what can I
do, and he was like, well, I’m going to prescribe you with an inhaler, it’s called [.. Into.]. He
said give this to her even though, he said give it to her, I believe it was three times a day, with
the air chamber. Even though she doesn’t have asthma you going to give it to her in the morning
before she goes to school, your going to give it to her when she comes home, this is to try to
avoid the flem in her chest, and I was like O.K. So I started doing that, I’m going to be really
honest with you, it worked. And it’s been I think two years, thank God, she hasn’t been
hospitalized since.
I: Now what do you think was responsible for her frequent visits to the hospital?
R: It was starting as a cold I would giver her the nebulizer. I would give it to her every two
hours, and nothing. She was like fine for 5 or 10 minutes and then again she would tell me, she
would be like a couch potato, she just wouldn’t move, and she’s very active. And when I saw
her like that I’m like there’s something wrong. I would put my ear against her back and I would
hear that wheezing and I’m like. My husband is a little bit more, he’s the one who kind of deals,
cause I get like nervous, so he’s a little bit more, he gets a little bit more involved than me
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because he has more patience than me. I’ll be like honey, I’m going to take you to the hospital.
No we don’t have to take her, she’s fine, don’t worry, I know what to do. I’m like O.K.
I: Does he go with you to the Doctor so he would get the same information you were
getting?
R: Yes. So we’re just giving her the [intel??] inhaler as indicated and I also got a prescription
for school and for the [albuterol] so if anything would happen they already have the permission
for them to give it to her, just when a wheezing may occur, you know for the albuterol inhaler. I
remember last year when she was in kindergarten, my fear was, you know how kids tend to carry
so may germs and getting colds and this and that, that maybe for her sweating in gym, may go
out to the cold, like a fire drill or something, she might get a draft or something and start
wheezing. My fear was that they probably wouldn’t know the proper way, how to do it.
I: They would not know?
R: They would not know, and [interruption] I had to go personally to show the nurse, and this is
said, because a nurse should at least know. Because she called once over the phone and she was
like how many cups do I have to give her, four? I’m like no no no. Would you like me to go
down there personally and show you because I wouldn’t like my kid to go through an overdose?
She’s like, please. So I went down there and I showed her personally how to use it. That kind of
freaked me out. But, thank God, she’s been doing great.
I: Those frequent hospitalizations started as a cold?
R: As a cold.
I: Do you know if there was something in the environment that might have affected her?
R: You know what also I noticed too, when the seasons changes.
I: When the season changes?
R: Yes, you know like in the summer when pollen comes out. I try to keep her indoors and it’s
hard. Because the kids in the summer want to go out and play. I try not to take her out that often
because I’m afraid of her, you know, getting sick.
I (Q.2): O.K. The next question is, what type of asthma education have you received from
your doctors?
R: Oh, so much. Literature, we have received, especially from Dr. _____, demonstrations on
how to use the [products ???] and all that. It’s been great, it’s like when things happen, it’s not
like, O.K. what do I do know? We know what to do.
I: Have you seen their videos?
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R: That I haven’t seen, not the videos. But how do mix the different solutions and the nebulizer,
how to use, she, I’m surprised, when she was 4 years old, she already know how to use an
inhaler. Not to many kids know how to use, the doctors prefer them to use the air chamber. Just
so you know that they’re getting mist in there. So, she can take it by herself, but I rather me
seeing it.
I: So they showed you how to use these medicines and got you to apply the medication. Now
did they also teach you what asthma is and the surrounding aspect of this?
R: Dr. _____ showed me [interruption]. He showed me I remember one room, well most of the
rooms that they have at the clinic, they have like a lung thing.
I: A poster?
R: They got the poster and if I’m not mistaken, I saw like a little diagram of the lungs and then
and he kind of showed me how the lungs look like when the got asthma and how it looks like
when their not. It kind of really surprised me, I’m like wow, I’ve never suffered from that, thank
God.
I: When you saw that image what came to your mind? That is, the image of the poster of
the lungs.
R: What came to my mind was I wish my kid didn’t really have to suffer from this because
maybe an adult can be able to really tolerate, but a kid, that broke my heart, that really did. I was
like I wish, I wish there would be a total, something a cure, to really knock this asthma away.
I: So seeing the poster with the diagram of the lungs and a normal lung and the lung with
asthmatic, did that help you really understand what this illness entailed, or did it make it
more confusing to you?
R: No it didn’t. It kind of made me understand more and being more on top of it. Because there
might be parents be like, okay, asthma, oh whatever, and then when you get, take care of ??? and
whatever, but it’s like I see that I got to be more careful. When its cold I got to make sure she has
proper clothing on, when she goes to sleep, I always make sure she’s got socks on in the house,
her slippers on. In the winter, not to keep her hair wet, you know blow drying it. I try make her
happy because I know by getting it, I know how miserable she gets, and I’m telling you it has
helped so far.
I (Q.3): Okay, the next question is [interruption]. What kinds of things do you know make
people have asthma? You probably alluded to some of them already. Now what kinds of
things do you know trigger asthma?
R: Dust. They might be I don’t know if its certain foods. Like my sister do certain foods she
can’t eat because it can trigger the asthma. The pollen, dust mites, upstairs I have to cover on the
mattress, a cover on the pillow. You got to be so protective when it comes to all that stuff.
Constantly were changing the vents in the furnaces, because that accumulates so much dust, and
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by turning it on that dust comes in. Try to keep the house as clean as you can, you know, your
kid tends to put their hand on the floor, sticking them in their mouth, and just trying to keep a
clean environment, as clean as you can for them.
I: And you also mentioned the cold, the cold weather, you mentioned cigarette smoke.
R: I can’t, like after that incident now I’m so careful when it comes to trying to get a babysitter.
Does your husband or do you smoke, no, o.k. I always try to check. I always tell them, I’m
sorry, but are you clean. Because that’s where my kids are going to be, and I always showed
them like in the past, thank God it hasn’t happened, before she was in school, I had to show the
babysitter how to use the nebulizer. How to mix everything in, or if not how to give her the
inhaler just so … and it was an experience to them because they weren’t really familiar with
asthma and when she would take them out or whatever make sure they had their hats and their
scarf just so that no draft would go in.
I: Do you know if overexerting themselves also affects their asthma?
R: What do you mean?
I: Playing too much, perhaps.
R: Playing too much, I’ve only noticed that when she jumps or plays to much it might cause a
cough. But for it to trigger asthma no.
I (Q.4): The next question, can you describe a couple of experiences that you’ve had with
asthma, like can you describe an episode of asthma that she’s had. Where was she, what
was she doing, what happened, how did she feel, what did she do?
R: There was, I think that after so much of her going into the hospital and coming home, that by
me taking out the machine and all the solutions, she already know. In the beginning she was like
a little, a little upset about it, because she really did want to go through it. But after a couple of
times of her getting asthma she would feel comfortable to come up to me and say, Mommy I
don’t feel good, I need my medicine. She wouldn’t just sit down and [….wheezing sound] and
I’m like Dane what’s wrong. She would automatically come to me Mommy I don’t feel good. It
really didn’t have to come to a point, a drastic point that I see her and I’m like of my God. For
her age she kind of know when I feel something different, something’s wrong, let me tell
Mommy about it. She would come up to me if she has a headache or running nose, Mommy I
don’t feel good, what’s wrong, and she would explain to me what it is, and from there I would
check further.
I: What other experiences have you had or episodes can you tell me, to give me a sense of
how does she get asthma? Has she gotten asthma in or sleep …?
R: Yes.
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I: O.K. Can you describe me one evening that she got asthma and what was she doing?
R: I believe a 1 ½ or 2 years ago she constantly got it for the cold months like January and
February. I remember I had to got up every hour on the hour, set my alarm, to give her the [????,
nebulizer] and she would like after the nebulizer she would try to toss and turn, I would have to
put probably 2 or 3 pillows to try to .. that would be the only way she could probably breath, by
sleeping on her back flat it wouldn’t work. So by at least putting at least pillows and give her the
nebulizer I think maybe the lungs would probably, the nebulizer would do something with the
lungs that she could at least get a little oxygen in here, maybe after a couple of minutes time ..
sleep. It was like every hour of the hour giving her the nebulizer she was miserable, miserable.
I: [Interruption] And um did you finish addressing that issue.
R: As long as I had those three pillows behind her back trying to maintain her body in a level,
where after taken the nebulizer she would at least get some oxygen in her lungs, she was o.k.,
but it was, oh my God, there were times like I said every hour of the hour I had to set the clock,
give it her that nebulizer. When she gets a cold, running nose starts, that’s when I have to start
my action. I can’t wait to hear that cough, cause after that she might start, the wheezing starts to
occur, so as soon as I see that running nose I’ll giver her that Dimetapp, and the next day the
running nose is gone. So, if I let it slide things will get worse. That’s how I see. So as soon as I
see a sign that’s when got to start to act.
I (Q.5): Do you know if there are different types of asthma? In your opinion. [Pause]
Cause you mentioned chronic asthma. What do you mean to have chronic asthma?
R: Chronic asthma. They get it all the time. They get it like, maybe, by even going up one step,
it’s just so sensitive. That constantly they have to be carrying around their medication, with their
puff. Um, maintain a clean environment.
I: So, would you describe your daughter’s asthma as chronic? How bad do you think is
your daughter’s asthma?
R: I don’t consider it chronic asthma, I really don’t. I’m not going to compare what my sister
goes through and what my daughter goes through. I see what my sister really goes through with
asthma and seeing how my daughter, and I’m like my daughter hardly, now, my daughter hardly
ever gets it and my sister, like, [….???] she gets it. It like she so sensitive when it comes to that.
Thank God for that, but it categories, I would say she’s in a very fair state.
I: So then would you say there are different types of asthma?
R: I would say there is different types. In my opinion.
I: And what kind of asthma would be your daughter’s?
R: My daughter would be, I would say like a level, I would say in a clear stage. She doesn’t
really get it that much. Maybe in a year she might get it, I might hear wheezing or something.
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Like I said I just try if I see a signal of a running nose or something I would act it right away just
to avoid the wheezing that happens. She hardly ever gets it. I would say maybe once or twice a
year might be a lot. And I thank God for that but I hope that she would outgrow it because she
really gotten it a couple of years ago when she was diagnosed.
I: So would you say there are different degrees of severity or different types of asthma?
R: I think there would be different degrees, not types. I think it would be different degrees.
Yeah, that would be my ….
I: So that chronic would be more what …?
R: More severe.
I: More severe. All right and have you ever heard of the term fatiga or fatigue. In which
context have you heard it? How do people use that term?
R: Fatiga would be kind of like asthma in my opinion. Fatigue would be somebody lets say if
they run and run, and like, oh my God, I’m out of breath. That would be more like a fatigue.
Like …
I: Shortness of breath, right.
R: Breath, yes.
I: You get fatigued. But the term in Spanish, fatiga, does that term evoke the same image
or the same definition as you know it or as you heard other people use it, in Spanish?
R: No. It’s totally different.
I: Have you ever of people referring to asthma as fatiga, I mean, sorry, have you heard
people using fatiga referring to asthma itself?
R: Uh huh.
I: No. Why would you say people in the Hispanic community sometimes refer to asthma as
fatiga? [Long Pause]. Have you been to Puerto Rico, have you heard it used in Puerto Rico?
R: Yeah, I remember my Mom used to tell me, [Spanish-speaking] ..
I: Your sister has fatiga?
R: Yeah she has asthma? You know putting it in English ..
I: Yeah, but knowing that she has asthma, right, knowingly? She would say your sister
has fatiga. [I’m translating] Or otherwise your sister is fatigued. Do you have any idea
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why would people use those terms or think of it those terms? So at this point will ask your
husband if he has any idea why people use that term.
H: I think since it’s only been heard in the Spanish-community, its rare to hear a person speak or
say or my daughter/son has fatigue, they know that they had asthma. I’ll have to say there is
probably two reasons: Fatigue (Spanish for fatiga) we use it when we see a person just breathing
hard, short of breath, so it kind of describes the same symptoms as asthma, they look alike. Now
fatiga we usually use it in a person that doesn’t have asthma, you know, maybe play baseball and
all of sudden short of breath. I’m fatigued. So when a person has an asthma attack it’s kind of
like the same symptoms when they’re breathing hard, trying to take some air.
I: So they borrowed the term.
H: I say they borrowed the term because, I have to say that Spanish-people tend to like change
words and let’s say, we could chose and say [Spanish words].
I: She has asthma …
H: Exactly, we could choose and say that, which is the correct term, if she really has asthma.
But I have to say that it just sounds better or maybe it’s easier to say fatiga. I wouldn’t know,
make it sound less serious, I have to say the signs are common.
I: O.K. What would you compare asthma to? Is there anything that comes to mind that
you could compare asthma to?
R: I compare it to like a lung disease, that’s what it is.
I: That’s like the textbook definition of asthma. Can you compare it to anything else? It
doesn’t have to be an illness, although you can compare it to something else…
R: Like right now they haven’t found really a cure for it, um, there is medicine that can control
it, triggering, I can’t say cancer, because, well I know people die from it and its so …
I: Now given your daughter’s experiences it doesn’t sound like her asthma is not as severe
as your sister. And I don’t know if you would compare her asthma to cancer.
R: Oh my sister, yes.
I: No, your daughter.
R: Oh my daughter, no.
I: Think of her with her asthma and what would you compare that to? Any ideas [to
husband. When I see that she’s running out of breath ….
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H: O.K. When she doesn’t have asthma, the first thing that I think of is her lungs and from what
I’ve read and studied about asthma I know its like an inflammation on the muscle where the air
path shortens, it gets smaller and then it just hard to breathe in and out the air, I know that part.
But I would compare it with, It’s like having a block right on top of your chest where you can’t
pump, you can’t expand your lungs and close it like you can’t really use it. I would compare it
with that, it’s all in the lungs, the force is in the lungs.
I (Q.6): O.K. That’s a good comparison. Now, back to you (R), what things do you do to
treat her asthma, and some of this gets repetitive because with the first question you have
already addressed some of these issues, what things do you do to treat her asthma?
R: Medication wise.
I: Medication or things that you do.
R: Maintain, one of the things is maintain the house clean, make sure she’s clean, her hair, cold
weather, not to keep it wet, make sure that she has socks at all times and T-shirt underneath her
shirt. When she goes outside make sure she always has a hat. Good clothing. Make sure no
draft would go into her coat, I’m not going to overdress her because that your body starts
sweating. Try to keep her the most clean and protected as possible.
I: (Q.7): You already talked about when she gets short of breath with the wheezing, what
you do and that your husband often helps her out when you get nervous. Now, how much
control do you feel that you have over your daughter’s illness? How much control?
R: He has more control than me, like in the past, when she used to get really, really ill he knew
exactly what to do. Even though I know what to do, he has had at those times a little bit more
patience than me.
I: He has more patience. But you would get more nervous.
R: Yes.
I: Even though you knew exactly what to do?
R: Yes. I can’t leave knowing that she’s like that. Just hearing her whining and she’s so
uncomfortable, it’s hard for her to breathe, a kid at that age.
I: Now would you say that you have control over her asthma or her asthma controls you?
R: No. No. I don’t know. I think so far ..
I: Think of your sister too, and think of other people who have asthma, given that the
asthma that she gets. Do you feel powerful or powerless?
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R: I think we should feel powerful, not have this disease we overcome you, you have to
overcome the disease. Well we should treat not wait until it gets worse, because when it gets
worse it’s when your really go through the … how they end up in the hospital or its going to ..
how much medication longer ….
I: It sounds like you have a certain degree of control.
R: Yeah.
I: As opposed to other people that I have interviewed that this has rules every second of
their lives in a way.
R: We have to thank Dr. ____ too, because he is a really good, he’s been… If I’m not mistaken,
I remember every time we used to go in there, he was like, again, she was hospitalized again.
We don’t want her going through these […..??] again. There something that you guys are doing
wrong and after he have us that [..?] inhaler he was like this is going to help.
I: So that was the magic …
R: That was the magic.
I: A treatment.
R: Yes. That was the magic treatment to avoid that flem occurring in the lungs. And like I said
you can’t wait until a kid ….
I: Did education play a role there also?
R: Oh yes. I think our past experiences going what we went through with her and what Dr.
____ really told us is like we don’t want you guys to go through this. He really was a really
good friend.
I: A really good what, friend?
R: Friend, besides a doctor. You know explaining when it came to her asthma, so thank God for
that. And I wish there was cruel, medicine. Here we guarantee this is going to be 100% and you
won’t go through this again. But thank God that she hasn’t had it for a while.
I (Q8): The next question is, what worries you most about this illness?
R: My worries are that it will get worse.
I: You mean progression?
R: Yeah, as the body develops and all this. You know how kids tend to get excited and like to
get involved in some other things, like sports and all that, right now she be just like a regular,
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probably like jumping-jacks and all that in school. That doesn’t trigger anything but my fear is
like if she would get into swimming, I heard swimming is great for the lungs, but if she would
get in any kind of sport or anything like that, that I hope it wouldn’t really trigger, cause that
when your really tried to really force your body to work a little harder, and I just that it won’t,
wouldn’t get worse.
I (Q9): So the next question relates to your expectations with your doctor. You already
talked about your relationship with your doctor, but what do you expect from your doctor
in helping you with your child’s asthma?
R: To give me the best advice as possible and I’m willing to go by it. I’m not going to say O.K.
Doc I’m not going to do it, and then […… prescription] one side and it’s going to sit in that
corner, no. If it’s something that’s going to help my daughter, why not try it. So …
I: You mentioned friendship … Do you expect that from your doctor?
R: Of course, yes. I really do feel comfortable going to Dr. _____ and explaining Doctor this is
what I’m going through what can you suggest me to do. And if I remember he has a son who
suffers from asthma, if not mistaken I think he told me something like that. He told me and his
personal point of view this is what I would do. I kind of felt, you know, o.k. he kind of rocks in
the same boat as we do, and he’s giving me a personal point of view of what you know, his
opinion. Not that its my choice to really do it or not, but that really helped me and you know, I
have experienced, also. I think that when you have the opportunity to go through it, you are able
to really, your able to explain it better. It’s not like you can study it and whenever, but if you go
through it your only basis of what your read. You understand what I’m saying. Once you really
go through it you can probably go based on what you read, then from there you be able to help
other people. Really Dr. ____ and been really helpful in that area to really giving us good advice
and that we have gone based on that, it has really helped us.
I: So are your expectations being met from your physician.
R: Yes.
I (Q.10): The next question, do you know or have you heard about alternative ways of
dealing with asthma? That you know, any treatments or tips that don’t really come from
your doctor, but that you have heard from neighbors, relatives, from community sources?
R: Based on the experiences that I’ve had at home with my sister and based on what Dr. ___’s
advised that’s really what I kind of like put things together. Like I said at home when I lived
with my parents I kind of knew already.
I: Now the treatment that your sister was going through was that similar to what you now
know that people do to take care of asthma?
R: Well my sister right now she’s going for allergy shots, because she’s allergic to certain
foods. She’s allergic to dust and all that other stuff. So …
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I: But say 10, 15 years ago when you realized, when you learned from your sister, what
was it like to have asthma. You never saw or heard people saying, trying this or that?
R: They would say, I know in Puerto Rico, they would say drink this whatever tea. This will at
least do cure, but never did. People would say [Spanish …]
I: Cause during interviews I have been able to collect from popular knowledge, from the
community, different things that people, from generation to generation have learned, to
deal, to use, most of it, ineffective, but that people try nonetheless, and I’m trying to learn
the variety of things that people try and what they’re opinions are about these alternative
ways of dealing with asthma.
R: I’ve also heard, I had mentioned to Dr. ___, it was like getting an air cleaner for especially
her room. And he said it wouldn’t be wrong having it. There was time when she would get a
cold and I had asked him about a vaporizer, and he was like don’t put the Vics liquid in there,
make sure it’s only with the water, maintain the room kind of humid. He said there was nothing
wrong with that but I had mentioned about an air cleaner and there was really nothing wrong
with that.
I: But you did mention the Vics.
R: Yes. No, no with asthma.
I: But you know within the Puerto Rican community every kid gets rub almost universally.
Vics is like pampers, every kid wears that, or as far as I know, it become like something
very ingrained in the Puerto Rican community medicine cabinet.
H: That and alcohol.
I: Rubbing alcohol.
H: Something about the Vics. I grew up using a lot of vix because my Mother use to use it on
me. I think just because of the smell. Two things we believe, we believe that the smell of it
nasal passages …
I: Open up your nasal passages, take care of the congestion.
H: Exactly, the stuffing nose. And then we also, at least me, I thought the Vics would penetrate
and do something to my lungs. When you have chest congestion, the flem, I would think, I
would ask myself, why put it in my chest, maybe just in my nose that would be enough. So
maybe the chest thing, my nose, do something with the chest thing, I always thought that helped.
I never had asthma, but I got sick.
I: Now the thing is that people use it a lot when you get a cold, right, a stuffing nose. But
asthma is not a cold and I don’t know if Dr.___ has mentioned not to use Vics for asthma.
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R: Yeah, he said no.
I: It’s probably because it’s not going to help you at all, and the vapors may be too strong
and it may cause a reaction in which the child may be able to breathe even less. But anyway
that’s one example of an alternative way of treating asthma which is not what the doctor’s
tell you to do. But it’s used because of popular beliefs.
R: Exactly.
I: Because from generation to generation, you know, people have gotten to trust this and
use it. I’m telling you I have a long list of things that people have heard of or used.
R: I always want to mention something else. There was a lady from my church, her son also
suffers from asthma. She once approached me and told me what do I give my daughter was she
has a heavy cough. She was just curious, her son had a very bad cough and he was constantly
coughing and he couldn’t sleep, she wanted to know would I give her something like that. Well I
would give her the nebulizer before going to bed, a cough is a good sign. But I wouldn’t giver
her cough medicine. She said why and I say well #1 she doesn’t have a cold, I remember Dr.
____ had mentioned to us giving Dane cough medicine would do something with asthma
patients. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but he said it would do something with asthma
patients. I would never recommend cough medicine for an asthma patient. But that doesn’t
sound right. I’m going to ask my Doctor [Spanish …] on Niagara …
I: Is that a clinic?
R: That’s a clinic. And she talked to her doctor and she said there’s this lady in church that told
me my son has a terrible cough and she told me that I can’t given my son cough medicine, why?
And you know something that lady is right. You can’t give an asthma patient cough medicine. I
can’t remember exactly what he said what can really cause by giving it, but I know he told me
don’t ever give her cough medicine and that has always stick in there.
H: What I remember. Let’s say she has asthma. She’s been treated and we give her the
nebulizer and whatever can eliminate the flem and all that. The coughing is good you tend to
remove it, so you don’t want to stop what really removes the flem and the thing in your lungs.
Now if you were to give her the cough medicine then she won’t cough, if she doesn’t cough, all
that would just stay trapped. Your doing nothing, your stopping the remedy. Cough medicine is
good for a child that is not asthmatic. That’s why it does not exist for a person that has asthma
and is coughing cause of that, that’s why he told us not to use cough medicine.
I (Q.11): That’s an interesting point, in a way that the coughing allows her to get rid of the
phlegm that is causing her to wheeze and all of that and your suppressing that coughing.
So if her problem was only the flu or [??] then it would stop right there. The next question
is, what do relatives and friends think about your daughter having asthma? For example,
teachers, your relatives, neighbors, friends. Do they know that she has asthma? How do
they relate to your daughter or help her because of her asthma?
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R: O.K. Um, when she was diagnosed after I explained to you that the lady who used to take
care of her, her husband was a chain smoker, I had to find another babysitter. And I had to
explain to her the reason why, didn’t you have a babysitter before, I kind of had to explain to
them the whole story. Some of them felt a little awkward, O.K. it was a more responsibility for
me now as the sitter, I got to take care of somebody whose ill. They consider it like that.
I: So you had to pay them more to…
R: Then when I had to bring the machine over and explain to them how to make the solution
like that they were like Oh my goodness. In a way it was good for them because they kind of got
to know a little bit more about and I can say they were more responsible. When it came time,
o.k. I got to give her medicine, they were right there and then they give it to her. When I would
come home from work, they were like this is the time, this is what I gave to her, she’s fine, she’s
doing good. They’re a little active, that [Berol …???] they’re high tends to ????? a little bit and
they get a little active for a little while. Showing them, thank God, it wasn’t a problem.
I: How about relatives or friends, have you trained them the same way as you train your
sitter, or have you told them about what your daughter has and how it’s treated and how
you deal with it and do they understand? How do they relate to you?
R: The only relative I have here is my sister, my sister that suffers from asthma. So the times
that she was living here for a couple of years so, she would, when I wasn’t present, and my
daughter needed the medication, my sister was there, she knew what to do. So I had no problems
with that. I would tell her such and such time she needs to take the Berol ?? my sister said times
she would need to take a nebulizer and there was times that [Celese ??] you know you told me to
give it to her maybe at 4 but I had to give it to her at 2 because she was wheezing, she didn’t look
too good. So her suffering from asthma and looking at my daughter, she knew I can’t wait to 4
o’clock like Celese said, I got to give it to her now. And she, and I would say I’m afraid, she’s
going to get an overdose or something … No, she’s not, the [???] she’s not going to get an
overdose. Don’t worry. I had to give it to her because she was shortness of breath. I’m not
going to leave her like that for an extra two hours, it had to be done. Don’t worry I know what
I’m doing.
I: Now does your daughter get any special treatment or is she treated any different
because of her asthma? By parents or friends or other care takers.
R: No
H: Going back to the question, this is what I’ve seen and what I believe. Seeing that she almost
never suffered from asthma, what was a major impact was when she had her first asthma attack.
We were not, especially me, educated. I grew up as a kid, believe I almost never heard of
asthma, not me. My wife, she grew up with her sister. I don’t know nothing about asthma.
I: You grew up here in Buffalo.
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H: New York and then Puerto Rico. But my family members or my friends, none of them
suffered asthma. And the first time she suffered, the first time it got serious because I didn’t
know about and seeing the symptoms in my face, I was thinking it was something else. How
other people visualize it, like friends, neighbors, people in church, well, she was hospitalized.
They saw it as a serious condition, I saw it as a serious condition, and I was weary of ……
INTERRUPTION – OTHER SIDE OF TAPE
I: You mentioned the church, does church come into play in coping or treating asthma for
you. Cause other people that I talked to have mentioned religion or church as having a role
in all of this. Does the church play a role in coping with this asthma?
R: We’re Christian, so when she was diagnosed with asthma this was a condition that we put,
we had asked the Lord to really heal, but it’s only when He says that’s when we want it to
happen, so were just waiting patiently. We just have to thank God that she hasn’t gotten asthma
for, it’s been like, over a year, something like that. We just hope and pray to God that she would
outgrow this just so she, I don’t like to see her ….
I: Does prayer play a role?
R: Yes we pray and even at night we, I kind of teach both of them like when one is ill I pray for
hear and ask God to heal your cold, and at night we got to pray, what do you want to ask God.
She would say in Spanish, I would like God to heal Mommy, she’s got a headache, or she’s not
feeling God, or heal ??? or heal me, with her running nose or something. And she would say I
thank you, I thank you God because I know you have healed me. And the next day she would
wake up feeling fine.
I: So would you consider prayer as perhaps an alternative way of dealing with asthma?
By alternative meaning whatever the Doctor does not prescribe. The doctor prescribes
medicine, a healthy regime, has your doctor prescribed prayer?
R: No.
H: We have to be realistic, and when it comes to talking about the Church, you know different
religions. Our point of view is this, we know there is God, that has all power over all nature, and
part of nature is sickness. We believe, we have to believe in doctors, and not saying that we
don’t have faith in God, I want to just point that out, I believe that God has given men the
knowledge to go this far on making studies and doing research. God doesn’t send any messages
on paper, well here is a new cure. I believe God gives the knowledge to men, you see, to a
certain point, you know. Adam didn’t get all the cures in his generation. Generation by
generation get studies and knowledge and get all these cures. Even though I go to the doctor,
and we get medicine, with medicine or not prayer is always going to be there. Even though the
medicine, if the medicine works, we thank God for the medicine, if it doesn’t work, we, for
everything we give thanks to God. And, why because for what the bible teaches us, there is
always a purpose in life, always a purpose. Even though things might seem so bad and negative,
in God’s hands, in God’s point of view there is always a purpose. There is nothing that happens
in [????] that does not have a purpose to God. Knowing that gives us a piece of mind, we are not
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… [Spanish] I don’t know how you say that in English. Where we sit down and my daughter has
asthma, well o.k. God’s responsible, were not going to do a thing about it, we’re not going to do
that. You know we should take care of what we got in our hands, in this case house, money, car,
children, our own lives. And we do physically, mentally, emotionally, what we can do, but
always putting God number 1 in our lives. I’m not going to say well if I go to a D=doctor I’ll be
rejecting God’s help. We have to keep everything straight; doctors are there because God uses
Doctors. Know Doctor’s don’t do miracles, God does the miracles and we just going to doctors,
with their wisdom and knowledge and cure, ….
I: You would consider for example, going to the doctor and getting prescription and give
daughter her medicine and accompanied by a prayer.
H: Let’s put it this way. In health or sickness prayer is always going to be there. So when you
sick we not pray because somebody’s sick – no, we pray because we will always pray even
though we were not sick. When this is somebody sick, we just pray to God this person is sick.
Say God you know what everything is fine, this day nothing happened, but my daughter is sick,
so if it is thy will you want, even though we give her medicine, if its thy will for her to be healed
right now, be thy will. We pray for even peace of mind, we even pray for [????] because in
sickness we know there’s more we see in sickness then other, and sometimes even though
medicine does there job, people tend to get desperate, nervous and they don’t know what to do
and we ask God in our sicknesses to at least give us the wisdom to how to cope and deal. I
believe in positive suggestion, positive thinking does help sick body. Not that it’s good as
healing, because I know the body itself has it’s own way to heal itself, but to have a positive
mind its way better than having a negative mind.
I (Q.12): Thank you for sharing. So the last question, how has this illness affected your
lifestyle or everyday life? Has it changed your lifestyle?
R: I think it kind of brought us more together, but it really kind of like we worry more about
each other, you know, and we kind of take care of one another. Just to avoid, I wouldn’t like her
to go through this, so we kind of keep an eye on each other …
I: She’s your little one…
R: Yeah, this is the little one, and um, when she’s a little ill or whatever like a little running
nose, Dimetap also and give them their vitamins daily. It kind of like brought us more together,
like I said, brought us more together as a family. We are more careful and awareness, more
aware and just to avoid getting sick. Always watch the hands, always on top of them. Come
home from school, wash your hands. Their surround of so much germs that sometimes you
won’t, they start eating, well I work at a bank and I’m constantly counting money and when I
feel my hands a little funny, I will put antibacterial soap on them, go to the bathroom and wash
them. Even myself contact with people at the bank, they’re sick with the flu …
I: You try not to bring that home.
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R: Exactly. I don’t want to bring that home. Always awareness, like I said it brought us more
united in the family.
I: On that note, I’m going to end this interview. Thank you.
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College of Doctoral Studies
RES-883 Interview Transcript 2
Directions: Use the transcript below to complete the Topic 3 and Topic 5 assignments.
Asthma Beliefs and Practices in an Urban Minority Community in Western New York
Interview #27 at Family Health Center (after doctor’s appointment)
Interviewer (I)
Respondent (R)
Study Problem
There is a high prevalence of asthma and related poor health outcomes in urban, minority
communities in the Northeast of the U.S. Little is known about how asthma is perceived and
managed in these communities.
Study Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how adults with asthma living in urban minority
communities in the Northeast of the U.S. perceive and manage their illness.
RQ1
How do adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the Northeast of the U.S.
perceive their illness?
RQ2
How do adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the Northeast of the U.S.
manage their asthma?
I (Q.1): People have different ideas about what asthma is. What do you think is asthma?
As far as you know, what do you think it is?
R: It’s a problem with breathing, tubes in your lungs got clogged. The air is not circulating
through your lungs properly. You get shortness of breath, a lot of time you have to go on
breathing treatments, if you have a tuff asthma attack you have to go to the hospital to have
treatments done at the hospital.
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I: So if you were going to summarize it like, “asthma is ….” and fill in the blank, how
would you define it?
R: Asthma is problem with the lungs, breathing, air not circulating properly, causing shortness
of breath.
I: Okay, thank you. When did you first learned about asthma? What happened?
R: In my personal life or just in general?
I: How ever you wish to describe it.
R: Well, two members of my family have asthma, a very close friend that I baby-sit, her son has
chronic asthma so, I’ve dealt with it for most of my life.
I: The baby had “chronic asthma”?
R: Yes.
I: And was that before you had asthma?
R: It was around the same time when I was babysitting him and we realized I had it.
I: So what happened? What was the first experience you had with asthma? What
happened that you ended up knowing that you had asthma?
R: I was in gym class in the beginning of high school. I was playing volleyball [unintelligible]
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and getting shortness of breath and I almost passed out, receiving oxygen treatments is when
they advised me to see my primary doctor about asthma. And that’s when I discovered I had it.
I (Q.2): O.K. The next question is, what type of asthma education have you received from
your doctors?
R: Normally, just when you get shortness of breath and you can’t catch your breath use your
inhaler to calm down and just rest for a little while after that, um, if it gets worse and the
inhaler’s not working call your primary doctor and find out what the next step would be to do.
I: So, they have only told you what to do when you get asthma?
R: We’ve been told how it happens and you know what happens when the body goes through an
asthma attack. How the things recover even after an asthma attack.
I: You mean like they have shown you diagrams or pictures?
R: Diagrams and lung flow pictures, things like that.
I: Was that like through videos or brochures or other documents?
R: It was a little of everything. I also had asthma education when I started babysitting this little
boy. His parents had the videotape from their doctor to educate the family and also the
caregivers of the children. So I also learned through watching him.
I: So, you also learn from these sources what asthma is, not only how to take care of it…
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R: Yeah, how to deal with it, what to do in case of extreme emergencies.
I: O.K. Did you also learn whether this illness is something temporary or long-term?
What else have you learned from those sources?
R: I’ve learned its hereditary, somebody else in the family would have had it. In my case we
don’t know, my younger cousin has it, but nobody, none of the older ones in our family have had
it. Um, my little cousin’s case, his is chronic, he’ll live with it the rest of his life as will the little
boy that I used to baby-sit. Mine I’ve kind of grew into it, it wasn’t something that happened
when I was a child, it came of later in life when we realized that I had it.
I: When was that?
R: I think it was about in 8th or 9th grade when we realized I had it.
I (Q.3): O.K. What kinds of things do you know make people have asthma?
R: Um, the type of air that their breathing, what chemical factors [unintelligible, parts of your
lungs], the high pollution, smoking, pets, some allergies cause the asthma, um a lot of it is just
your way of life, your occupation, what kind of buildings your in, central heating, central air,
things like that.
I: How about in your case? What things caused you to have asthma?
R: When I first started working, I worked at McDonalds. The fumes there, plus in my, where
we used to live it was an old house, an old building, some of the smells in the house were kind
of, they weren’t the best. The oxygen wasn’t the greatest in the house, because of the circulation
through the air. Um, the heating system was old, so the fumes when you start the new heaters,
they were just terrible.
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I: What else? Do you know if, for example, emotional problems can also cause asthma?
R: Yeah, really depressed, or never really thought too much about the emotional part of it.
I: That’s not relevant to your … case.
R: Not that I think of, no.
I (Q.4) O.K. The next question, can you describe a couple of experiences you’ve had with
asthma? In other words, can you describe a few episodes starting with what you’re doing,
what happened, what you did, and how you felt about it?
R: Like I said, in high school I was playing a volleyball game and at first I was getting shortness
of breath and I thought nothing of it, I thought it was just really exciting because we were
winning the game. I thought its nothing, its just excitement, but when the game was towards the
end and I really couldn’t breathe, I started getting really clumsy, that’s when I was pulled out of
the game and they realized I was really having a hard time breathing. The paramedics were on
the site anyway just in case something happened during the game, so that’s when they
administered the oxygen, called my Mom.
I: Right. But at that time you didn’t know you had asthma?
R: No, at the time we didn’t know.
I: How about one more recent episode in which you already knew you had asthma?
R: I was …, actually it was this past summer I went for a bike ride, really hot, shouldn’t of done
it, but [laughs], it was really hot, we had the waters with us anyway, but, moving so fast and the
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extreme heat we had this summer, I just started getting really short of breath, my chest felt like
somebody had knocked the wind out of me, somebody punched me or something. We had to
stop, I had my inhaler with me and it took about a good half hour before we could get up and
start going again, but the ride home was a slow ride home because of that. It was just very
exhausting after everything happened. My chest hurt for the remainder of the day. I went to
sleep and got up and I was fine the next morning.
I: Now, can you tell me one last example in which exercise didn’t play a role?
R: The type of asthma that I have is mainly an exercise … I think its called exercise asthma,
when your doing activities is when it comes, if I’m just sitting in the dust or something, or just
going my normal business, I’m fine, but if I’m moving a lot or even painting. I was painting a
room my chest start tightening up because of the fumes of the paint. But if I’m just sitting
normally I’m fine, I don’t have chronic asthma or anything, I just have what they call exercise
asthma.
I (Q.5): O.K. Can you describe if you think there are different types of asthma, you
mentioned the chronic asthma…
R: There’s chronic asthma, exercise asthma, I think there is a milder one, I don’t know the name
of it though, but I know there is different degrees of the asthma.
I: So there’s different degrees of asthma? That’s interesting… What about different types
of asthma?
R: Different types and different levels of the types, kind of like the tree, there’s the main tree
and then there’s the branches and those branches have little twigs. It’s kind of like that, they all
branch out and all come under the big thing of asthma.
I: O.K. And what does chronic asthma mean to you?
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R: Like I know my boyfriend’s mother has chronic asthma and she’s has to use the breathing
machine 3 times a day. She goes downstairs, she has a hard time breathing. Picks up the baby
she has a hard time breathing. Um. it’s just a really severe case. You have to watch what you do
and you can’t rush everywhere because she has a hard time breathing. There is not a lot of things
she can do. She can’t take certain smells, like the dog, she has a hard time with the dog. The
dog constantly has to be groomed. The smells are not really […?] the animal. Just have to
watch your every day life cause at any time an asthma attack can happen.
I: So you would relate chronicity with severity? Would you say that “chronic” asthma
means “severe” asthma.
R: Yes.
I: O.K. And then if its not chronic or severe, it’s what, more of the milder case? Is the
“exercise” asthma type a milder case?
R: It’s a milder case.
I: O.K. It’s just caused …
R: Constant movement.
I: Constant movement, O.K. And how bad do you think is your asthma?
R: It’s not bad. You know it happens maybe once a while. If I’m doing a lot of things or
running around or stuff that’s when it happens. But I have a really mild case of it.
I: O.K. What would you compare it to? Your asthma?
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R: Umm … Maybe being like the common cold compared to [the lungs reaction to?] ammonia.
Ammonia could cause death at some point, where a cold is very treatable and it goes away within
a few days.
I: O.K. Have you ever heard of people talking about “fatigue” in relation to asthma?
R: In relation to asthma no. In relation to other sicknesses, yeah.
I: O.K. I’ve found that in Spanish-speaking communities they sometimes refer to asthma
as “fatigue”, but in Spanish, “fatiga”. Does this term ring a bell for you related to asthma?
R: No.
I (Q.6): O.K. What things do you do to treat your asthma, in general?
R: Carry my inhaler with me after, you know, my chest starts getting back to normal. You just
take it slow for the rest of the day, just stop […], like when I was bike riding we couldn’t just
totally stop because we were on the middle a 10-mile bike trail but, you know, just took it slower
and didn’t rush as much for the rest of the day. Just slowing down is really much what I do.
I: O.K. Now how about in relation to before and after? What do you do when you get
asthma? What do you do when you’re not having symptoms? You described, carrying
your inhaler with you, right. That’s whether you have an attack or not, you just carry it
with you?
R: Just in the event that it does happen, its there to use.
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I: Is there any behavior other than carrying your inhaler? What else besides carrying your
medicines and stuff.
R: No, its mainly just carrying that with me, I mean I try to stay away from places that are just
freshly painted. Department stores the perfume centers, I’ll go in another entrance to the store,
stay away from the strong scents because that, you know, not really a favorite thing to go
through.
I: What is a typical day for someone with asthma like you?
R: Depends a lot on the season. What season it is. If its really dry like in the winter, um, it’s a
little harder to get up in the morning sometimes, the dryness of the air with the heat on. There’s
none of moisture in the air if you want to say. Sometimes your lungs hurt, your chest will hurt in
the morning when you get up, or when you go out in the cold, and its really bitter cold out and
your chest starts hurting, but other than that, mine is so mild, it usually doesn’t bother me as
much.
I: What do you think is like the life of a person with chronic asthma?
R: It’s a rough day, every day is a rough day for them. Like watching my boyfriend’s Mother,
she, I mean, there is a lot of times she’ll just walk down the stairs to the basement and you can
hear her wheezing all the way upstairs. She has to take it really slow, she can’t do a lot of heavy
lifting, things life that, cause she gets worn out very easily. She, it’s a rough day for her. She
can’t talk for long periods of time. Not a ½ hour straight or whatever, a normal, not a normal
place, today like myself I could talk forever, and I probably would have an asthma attack. But
with her she has to slow it down, she has to take a lot better care of what she does and how she
manages certain situations, like maybe the baby falling, she can’t get really excited about it, she
has to keep it down.
I (Q7): I see. The next question is how much control do you feel that you have over this
illness?
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R: My personal illness I think I have a pretty good control over it, because I pretty much know
how much activity I can do before I’m going to start having an asthma attack or having problems
breathing. I pretty much can control that cause mine is so mild.
I: Sometimes I ask people can you control your asthma, or your asthma controls you?
R: Well in the case of my mother, boyfriend’s mother, it kind of controls her because it limits
what she can do, but in my case I think I can control it.
I (Q8): And you feel that you have the control within yourself. O.K. What worries you the
most about this illness?
R: Umm, that in my case it can get to something bigger. I play an instrument so if it got worse
in me I think it would affect the way I play.
I: What do you play?
R: I play the clarinet and I need my lungs to play the instrument, so I think it would hinder me a
lot if it got any worse than what it is, I mean, now its fine. No problems playing the instrument,
but that’s, if it got worse, it would worry me, yeah.
I (Q9): That’s an interesting distinction because in your case what worries, since it’s a mild
case is that it may limit some activity or that it gets worse. For the more severe asthmatics
what worries them most is that they die, because they’re at that point where it’s a serious
threat to them. What do you expect from your doctors, in helping you with your asthma?
What kinds of expectations do you have from the medical community or doctors about it?
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R: Maybe about the more medications to, that might, I mean, there is probably never going to be
a cure for this, its something that whoever has it is probably going to have it for the rest of their
life. Just have the education on how they explain it to the patient. Helping the patient
understand maybe a more complex question of just what is it. Maybe like how they got it or you
know, just the complex questions that some people, like some doctors may not have the
information, just educating the physicians on it so they can better education their patients who
have it.
I: Do you feel that you have gotten that kind of education?
R: Yeah. Cause I’ve dealt with it, I mean, not only my family but kids that I’ve cared for.
I: You mean like working with kids.
R: Right.
I: O.K. So that you got that education, but you got it from different sources. Now from
your own physicians, do you feel that you have educated you about it?
R: Yeah.
I (Q.10): The next question is do you know, or have you heard about any alternative ways
of dealing with asthma other than what physicians tell their patients to do?
R: No. It’s pretty much what the physicians have said to do.
I: What about that you have heard, not that you have done them or tried them, but you
have heard that some people have tried this or that?
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R: Installing air ventilations, new ventilations in their homes, I think there was a, maybe a
company who changed their, changing their air filters to filter the better air for the dust. I think
its pretty much just the air filters, um, trying to stay away from the air conditioners, like central
air and heating, like cause asthma.
I: Now have you heard if using over the counter medication that is not prescribed for
asthma. Have you heard of anything like that? Like using rubbing alcohol that they put on
people’s body, like when having high fever, or using Vics? Have you heard of Vics?
R: The rubbing …. ? I pretty much just heard that using the Vics for a regular cold.
I: But not for asthma?
R: Right.
I: And how about teas, some herbal teas, have you heard of anything like that?
R: I’ve seen them on the shelves, but I think pretty much you have to go with what the
physicians say because their the ones doing the research on it.
I: Right. And what kinds of, in which stores have you seen them?
R: Tops and Wegmans.
I (Q.11): Next question is what do your relatives and friends think about you having
asthma and how do they treat you because of your asthma?
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R: Well there is three of us in the family who have asthma so its kind of like, you know, its, like
when I play with my cousin both of us are getting too wound up playing, they’ll tell us calm
down, we don’t need any accidents around and so… they, cause there’s three of us who have it,
its just a family thing that we’ve all dealt with so we’re pretty much used to how to control it and
the activities we can limit to.
I: So there’s awareness in the family?
R: Yeah.
I: How about among your friends?
R: Well, like my boyfriend his Mother has it, so he does the same thing, you got to slow down,
calm down, pretty much, my closest friends are within my central family or the ones who I’m
really close with they treat you like a regular person, if they see your getting shortness of breath,
their going to ask you is there anything I can do to help or things like that.
I: Are they supportive?
R: Oh yeah.
I: And do they treat you any special?
R: No.
I: O.K. But if they see you that your getting sick …
R: Right. Then they react to it.
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I (Q.12): They react to it, O.K. So the last question, how has this illness affected your
lifestyle or everyday life? Has it changed your lifestyle?
R: I changed my job. I left McDonald’s because one of the reasons was for my breathing. Um,
there just really, because mine is so mild it really …. pretty much I just have to be careful when
I do exercise or play activities, whatever, just be careful how much you do.
I: What other circumstances in your life affected how you deal with asthma, and the other
is how asthma has changed your life or limited your styles.
R: Um, well, you know, I’m limited as to how much I can do, especially in the summer. How
active I can be, um, because like I said mine is so mild, it doesn’t have a really big affect, it has a
big affect on my life, but not as big of an affect on chronic asthma. But, um, it’s pretty much, it
has limited some of the things I can do like I can’t play basketball in the middle of the day, like I
would like to, like I have to wait until it’s a little cooler out, in the evening to play.
I: And you play the clarinet, right?
R: And I play the clarinet. It hasn’t affected it a lot unless I have a cold, I mean between the
cold and the asthma …
I: So it hasn’t affected your lifestyle much?
R: Not drastically, no.
I: O.K. Well, Kelly is there anything else about asthma, your experiences, your opinions,
that I haven’t asked you or about or that we have not, that you have not mentioned,
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something that was not touched by any of these questions that you may like to add, before I
conclude .. Have we touched a lot of things?
R: Yeah, we touched them, about all of them, yeah.
I: O.K. I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to speak with me
about asthma and I’m going to conclude the interview. Thank you very much.
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College of Doctoral Studies
RES-883 Assignment Resource: Coding
Assignment Overview
In this assignment, you will analyze two interview transcripts by inductively coding the data,
creating a codebook, and grouping the codes into categories. This experience will mimic the
process and feeling of coding a large study, though on a much smaller scale. In a subsequent
assignment, you will group these categories into themes. Follow the directions below to
complete the assignment.
Read the following key points before completing this assignment. NOTE: This assignment is
based on classic thematic analysis and may not be applicable to all qualitative research designs.
•
Coding is a phase in a thematic analysis approach to data. Different qualitative designs
may require different coding procedures. For example, coding in a qualitative descriptive
or case study may not be the same as in phenomenological or narrative designs.
•
Coding is conducted based on identifying similar topics that recur in the document
regardless of frequency of occurrence. Keep focused on the meaning of statements, not
on their frequency.
•
These assignments will use Braun and Clarke’s six-phase process: familiarization
with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining
and naming themes, and producing the report.
•
Coding generally follows this progression: Codes>categories>themes. Codes are the
smallest unit of meaning and are then subsumed into mid-level categories, which are then
subsumed into themes, which are phrases or sentences that directly answer the research
questions. For the purposes of Braun and Clarke’s six-phases, categories are established
in Phase 3: Search for Themes. All six phases are outlined below.
Components of Sample Study
Before beginning, take a moment to become familiar with the study components as noted below:
Title: Asthma Beliefs and Practices in an Urban Minority Community in Western New
York
Problem Statement: It is not known how asthma is perceived and managed in urban,
minority communities in the Northeast of the U.S.
Purpose Statement: The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study is to explore how
adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the Northeast of the U.S.
perceive and manage their illness.
Phenomenon: Managing asthma illness.
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Research Questions:
R1: How do adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the
Northeast of the U.S. perceive their illness?
R2: How do adults with asthma living in urban minority communities in the
Northeast of the U.S. manage their asthma?
Braun and Clarke’s Six-Phase Process
Phase 1: Familiarization with Data: Read each transcript several times and identify statements
that strike you as important. Mark the statements in some fashion (highlight, circle, bold,
underline). When you recognize chunks of text (words, phrases, and sentences) that appear
frequently, or that seem relevant or significant, make note of them. That is, circle or highlight
them in the text.
Phase 2: Generate Initial Codes: After reading all transcripts several times, review the
statements you marked or wrote down and identify a list of useful codes. Create a codebook that
lists your codes, definitions, and examples from the transcripts. Display as shown in Table 1.
Phase 3: Search for Themes: From Phase 2, look over your codebook and condense these codes
into a reduced number of mid-level categories (potential themes) based on similarity and name
them. Develop a table that shows the mid-level categories, aligned codes, and an exemplary
quote from two interviews. Display as shown in Table 2.
Phase 4: Reviewing Themes. Group mid-level categories developed in Phase 3 into themes
based on similarities. Themes should be complete thoughts, phrases, or complete sentences that
directly answer the RQs. Display as shown in Table 3 below.
Phase 5: Defining and Naming Themes. In this Phase, you will begin to create a narrative of
the data. Check themes against that narrative to see if they fit. Go back through the transcripts to
look for other information that may not fit themes. Review themes to make sure you can
articulate what they are about. Finally, check the research questions and see if the themes you
developed directly answer the research questions. Display as shown in Table 4 below.
Phase 6: Producing the Report. Compile and Write up Your Findings. Write up a thematic
narrative of findings.
< Document continues on next page. >
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Assignment Directions
To analyze the data, you must first identify codes and categories that appear in the data. To
accomplish this, use the first three phases of Braun and Clarke’s six-phase process as presented
above. In this assignment, you will hand code the data to create codes, develop a codebook, and
group the codes into categories.
Task 1: Code the transcript as described above in Phase 1 of Braun and Clarke’s process. Do this
in Word. Keep in mind that codes may repeat. Retain your coded document for submission with
this assignment.
Coding
Table 1: Codebook – Task 2
Code
Description of the Code
Example from transcript
Problem with
breathing
The code that says “Problem with
“It’s a problem with
breathing” entails cases where people
breathing.”
complain or have a presentation of a
problem touching on their respiratory
system which automatically relates to
Asthma. This code incorporates
statements that describe difficulty in
breaching or puffing and focuses on the
wheel which illustrates a fundamental
characteristic of asthma. Some of the
phrases uttered by the participants will
include, shortness of breath, tightness
in the chest, wheezing, or feeling like
one cannot breathe properly – this is
because asthmatic lungs affect the
ability of individuals to breathe
properly. Comprehending this code is
important for reconstructing the
subjectivity of affected people/asthma
as it illuminates the expressed
materialization of asthma in their
everyday lifeworlds. By using this
code, feeder researchers can determine
the intensity of breathing difficulty
encountered by the participants and
also analyze how this difficulty relates
to other aspects of their general health
and well-being.
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Tubes in the
lungs clogged
Since the established sampling method “Tubes in your lungs got
involves using coded phrases, “Tubes
clogged.”
in the lungs clogged” falls under
expressions or descriptions given by
the participants in the study concerning
the implications of asthma in the
human physiological system. It
incorporates moments when
individuals describe the experience or
their ability to feel as if their breathing
apparatus is narrowing or filling up,
typically due to inflammation typical
of asthma or excessive mucus
production. People may describe this as
an experience of a tightness in the
chest, which signifies a constricted
respiratory passage as experienced in
asthma attacks. When researchers use
this code with patients, then they can
capture the experience and struggles
that patients go through when
presenting ailments related to asthma
from a purely physical point of view,
thus complementing their
understanding of asthma as a
sociophysical disability. This code is a
useful predictor variable to illustrate
the physiological symptoms that
individuals with asthma encounter and
for the subsequent analysis of the
factor structure to provide an
understanding of the complex and
comprehensive nature of the disease
and its self-management.
Shortness of
breath
The code “Shortness of breath”
“Causing shortness of
pertains to circumstances that concern
breath.”
interview subjects’ representation,
sense, or feeling of respiratory dismay
such as the inability to breathe freely or
deeply. This description encapsulates
the characteristic of asthma which aims
at describing how people with this
disease feel when they are unable to
breathe in and out as freely as they
would like, often suffocated or lacking
adequate air. Asthma is a chronic
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respiratory disorder that affects
millions of people across the globe. By
coding episodes of shortness of breath
among asthmatics in the interview
analysis, researchers become privy to
subjective perceptions of suffering as is
experienced by these individuals. It is
useful in delineating asthma symptoms
and helps in probing participants’
perceptions of how they deal with their
asthma how they seek health care and
the general well-being of those
asthmatic patients. Given the findings
presented in connection with this code,
investigators can discern the enzyme
pattern of effects of asthma on the
subject’s quality of life and
functioning, which in turn will enable
the relevant providers to design
interventions and services to facilitate
the best possible asthma management
and outcomes.
Inhaler use
The code “Inhaler use” means
“Use your inhaler to calm
identified instances in which some of
down.”
the interview users talk about the use
of inhalers for asthma symptom
management. Thus, it sums up the
essence of inhalers, which are
pharmaceutical devices intended to
deliver inhaled bronchodilator
medication directly to the lungs to
reduce constriction and thereby
improve the sufferers’ breathing
capabilities. Nondispensed inhaled
medicines are used as a basic form of
asthma therapy with self-treatment
focusing on the provision of immediate
alleviation of severe factors like
breathlessness, whistle, and
constriction of the chest. By coding
and categorizing the different ways
interview participants mention using
the inhaler, researchers can infer how
the participants adhere to their
prescribed medications, their strategies
for managing asthma, and their
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perceived effectiveness of the inhaler
in preventing asthma exacerbations.
This code also enables further
examination of participants’ usage,
trials, and errors, regarding various
types of inhalers, modes of using the
inhaler, and barriers related to the
acquisition and financing of these
critical asthma medications.
Quantitative and qualitative data
related to inhaler usage can be further
analyzed to identify the trends in
compliance and non-compliance to the
prescribed medication regimens and
other impediments to proper asthma
management Thus, identification of
patterns of medication usage by
patients can improve the asthma care
delivery by identifying areas of patient
education need and other potential
support that may help to optimize the
outcomes of asthma management.
Hospital
treatment during
severe attacks
The shorthand labeled as “Hospital
“Have to go to the hospital
treatment during severe attacks”
for treatments.”
describes circumstances in which
survey respondents can describe the
attacks they had admitted to the
hospitals or other medical treatment
facilities. These codes capture accounts
of STEMI episodes that require
medical intervention beyond what has
been outlined by home-based selfmanagement techniques. Respondents
may report that they bring people to
ED or emergency care clinics because
of conditions such as acute dyspnea,
chest pain, or respiratory distress,
which must be addressed by clinicians.
In coding references to hospital
treatment during severe asthma attacks,
the researchers are in a better position
to assess the effects of asthma
exacerbations on health-related quality
of life, hospitalization dynamics and
resource use, and the healthcare
experiences of asthma sufferers during
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critical episodes. This code also
enables the identification of other
causes of worsening of asthmatic
symptoms such as poor control of
asthma, management of trigger factors
including environmental irritants, or
limited access to medical care in case
of asthmatic crisis. From a proper
assessment and evaluation of data
concerning hospital admissions due to
severe asthma attacks, researchers can
obtain insights concerning the timing
and reasons for asthma-related
physician visits, as well as evaluate the
existing management protocols for
severe asthma attacks and develop the
corresponding effective strategies for
the improvement of the acute asthma
care organization by the preferences
and outcomes of asthma patients.
Family history of
asthma
The predictive term “Family history of “Two members of my
asthma” refers to cases in which
family have asthma.”
interview participants have mentioned
that any of their family members suffer
from asthma, which means that they
genetically carry a predisposition to the
disease. It encompasses accounts in
which participants self-identify as
asthmatic or discuss family members
including parents, siblings, or other
relatives with asthma or associated
symptoms. Participants may report in
discussions related to encounters with
family members about the disease, how
the prevalence of familial asthma
influenced their understanding of the
disease and risk, and their experiences
of asthma control and care within the
family system. When Barrett and
colleagues explicitly code genealogy
data for asthma, they expand the
understanding of the potential role of
heredity and genetic predisposition in
asthma development and risk. It also
helps examine the processes of asthma
transmission between generations and
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other characteristics of Asthma
transmission including factors such as
environmental endogeneity, lifestyle
aspects, and healthcare practices. The
assessment of data accrued to family
history of asthma enables researchers
to establish a heritable pattern of
asthma, discover morbidity in the
familial setting, and guide genetic
advisement and family-centered
approaches in asthma risk reduction
and optimal disease control in high-risk
families.
Discovery of own
asthma during
gym class
The code “Discovery of own asthma
“Realized I had it during
during gym class” identifies situations gym class.”
when interview participants recall
certain cases including episodes or
stories of their asthma during physical
activities or in a gym class or exercise.
This code captures stories where
people tend to recall instances or
episodes where they experienced
breathlessness, difficulty in breathing,
wheezing especially during exercise or
other activities that elicited the signs
and symptoms of asthma to the
participants and subsequently had
asthma diagnosed. Vividly,
Participants may have memories of the
situation or time when they noticed the
first signs of asthma, the contexts in
which occurred, and the next actions
taken to consult a healthcare provider.
Furthermore, it could contain personal
thoughts or sentiments one may have
had regarding the realization of having
asthma, whether surprised, worried, or
relieved, and or changes prepared to be
made to different schedules or
exercises due to asthma. In this way,
the research can uncover the narratives
and stitching of asthma diagnosis
during gym class or any form of
exercise, which also gives an insight
into the experience and perceptions of
asthma about physical activity and
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exercise within the perceived context
of the diagnosed journey and exercise.
Education on
asthma symptoms
and treatment
The label “Education on asthma
“We’ve been told how it
symptoms and treatment” was given to happens and what to do.”
parts in the interview extracts in which
participants took time to express what
they know or what information they
have concerning symptoms of asthma
or ways of handling asthma. This code
compiles stories where participants
describe having been given
information, direction, or instruction on
aspects of asthma, including signs,
signals, or signals of wheezing,
coughing, chest pain, shortness of
breath; and identification of triggers or
aggravating factors. Participants can
discuss their knowledge of how early
signs of asthma must be identified how
quickly one should seek treatment for
asthma and use medication like an
inhaler or nebulizer to treat asthma
episodes. Moreover, this code might
include conversation about changes
you can make to your daily routine and
your surroundings, and treatments that
will help you to control asthma, such as
preventing exposure to allergens or
using inhalers, stories about doctors
and nurses or practicing in school to
improve your understanding of asthma
and ways to manage it. In this way,
education, as a construct, is coded to
understand the participants’
knowledge, attitude, and perceived
practice toward asthma selfmanagement, which aids in
investigating the perceptions and
practices toward asthma within the
study population.
Triggers: air
quality, pollution,
smoking, pets,
The code “Triggers: Providing
“High pollution, smoking,
information about how environment,
pets.”
pollution, smoking, pet control,
allergies, and occupational factors
affect asthma is feasibly covered under
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allergies,
occupation
the interview excerpts filed under the
“Activities /Advice on ‘Asthma’”.
Concerning the triggers practicing
enumerating the effects of practicing
some measures such as outside air
pollution, inside allergens like dust
mites or mold, or second-hand smoke.
They also said that although they had
asthma, factors such as pets, an allergy,
dust, or fumes in the workplace could
compound their conditions. It becomes
easier for researchers to identify a
variety of causes associated with the
worsening of asthma among urban
minorities and get some ideas
regarding trigger management
according to the participants’
experience.
Work
environment as a
trigger
The code that is most appropriate to the “Fumes at McDonald’s
current instance is: Work environment triggered it.”
as a trigger – this means that
participants stated that exposure to
specific conditions that can be found in
their workplace such as varying
chemicals, fumes, or allergens may
cause an asthma attack. Members
shared times they were incidentally
subjected to irritants or allergens at the
workplace, for instance, if they worked
at fast-food establishments and were
asthmatic when exposed to fumes from
cooking oil or cleaning agents. This
code also gives remarks on
occupational aspects of asthma
treatment and stresses the need for
employers to observe adjustments to
reduce exposure to asthma triggers.
Emotional stress
as a potential
trigger
The code “Emotional stress as a
“Depressed, never really
potential trigger” relates to situations
thought too much about it.”
where the participants observed that
situations that cause stress or anxiety
could lead to an asthma flare. Patients
mentioned cases in which they felt
stressed out, anxious, or depressed, and
it appeared that the asthma attacks or
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
breathing problems were getting worse.
This code describes how intertwining
Psychosocial factors and health status
is still evident; therefore, Mental
illnesses are important to consider
when managing Asthma. It implies that
methods and approaches that can be
utilized to deal with stress and enhance
mental health may help in the treatment
and control of asthma since most of the
suggested measures are not directly
related to medicines.
Exercise-induced
asthma
This category is labeled “Exerciseinduced asthma” which refers to
situations where participants described
how exercise or physical activity
causes asthmatic attacks. Some of the
Emergent Translation included
dizziness during or following such
exercise sessions getting breathless,
wheezing, or having a tightness in the
chest. This code applies to a certain
type of asthma and details how the
condition worsens during exercise.
People with asthma need to exercise
without a risk to asthma symptoms and
safely; therefore, comprehending
exercise-induced asthma is key. It goes
further to emphasize the need to come
up with special management plans for
asthma that take into consideration the
effects of exercise.
Types of asthma:
chronic, exerciseinduced
The code “Types of asthma:
“Chronic asthma, exercise
participation in activities that
asthma.”
participants defined in terms of the
nature of exercise as asthma chronic,
exercise-induced” relates to
participants’ discourse on the various
types of asthma discriminated. Severe
asthma is defined as a condition that
people cannot get rid of and entails
continuous going for checkups and
taking medications, either daily inhaled
medication or a breathing machine at
home. Moreover, exercise-induced
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
“Mainly an exercise
asthma.”
asthma was defined as the worsening
of asthma symptoms during exercise or
other effort. Many respondents
explained that there was a difference
between these types of asthma by
describing their onset time and possible
provoking factors: therefore, there is a
belief that therapeutic approaches
aimed at such patients may also be
different depending on the type. It is
important to differentiate between the
various types of asthma therapy and to
use the correct strategy for targeting
the patient group concerned for better
outcomes and enhanced quality of life.
Severity of
chronic asthma
The code “Severity of chronic asthma” “She has chronic asthma,
captures participants’ discourse on the and uses a breathing
severity of the chronic asthma they
machine.”
manifest. Asthma was depicted as a
continuing illness that can be
categorized into different stages
depending on the level of intensity of
the disease; mild, moderate, or severe.
A few of the participants reported
family members or people from their
communities who have severe forms of
CA requiring higher-level treatment
like the use of a breathing apparatus or
repeated admission to the hospital. This
code depicts the range of symptom
intensity that those having chronic
asthma feel and emphasizes the fact
that it is essential to apply
individualized treatment strategies for
the management of chronic asthma that
address the needs and issues of each
patient. Recognizing the extent of the
condition and its possibilities makes it
easier for health caregivers to draw up
strategies for handling chronic at home
to reduce its impact on the health of the
clients.
Control over
asthma symptoms
The salient construct “Control over
“I think I have pretty good
asthma symptoms” focuses on
control over it.”
participants’ experience in managing
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
and preventing the manifestations of
asthma. It was evident that most
participants had high levels of selfefficacy regarding the ability to control
their asthma symptoms, attributing
their efficacy to factors that include
awareness of what leads to flare of the
conditions; whether they are sticking to
the prescribed dosage of the drugs; and
whether or not they can avoid
situations that make them have asthma.
According to the findings; some people
explained their attitude focusing on
early identification of potential triggers
and then managing these effectively to
prevent symptom recurrence. This code
highlights the need to support patients
and make them more self-directed in
the case of asthma by focusing on selfcare methods as those who feel in
charge of their process are more likely
to follow all the necessary guidelines
about daily breathing and respiratory
health. Moreover, identifying the
factors that contribute to perceived
control of asthma symptoms can help
fill the gaps in the role of self-care in
perceived control and guide future
healthcare interventions to address the
patients’ self-efficacy levels in
managing asthma symptoms.
Concerns about
worsening asthma
This code “Concerns about worsening
“That in my case it can get
asthma” captures participants’ attitudes to something bigger.”
and perceived threats of seeing their
asthma condition get worse. Some
participants shared concern that their
symptoms might worsen when they
engaged in regular activities or when
they were stressed, thereby affecting
their ability to work and do other
things. Such concerns often arise from
past asthma attacks or other situations
that worsened their health condition.
This was evidenced whereby
participants stressed the need to be
constantly careful and be on the
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
lookout not to allow their asthma to
flare as per the advice of registered
nurses; to ensure one takes his or her
medications as prescribed, avoid
situations and places that may trigger
asthma attacks, and seek medical
attention immediately whenever
necessary. The code you see here
represents a patient’s emotional
experience of having asthma and the
wish for measures that would prevent
the worsening of the symptoms. Such
apprehensions are crucial for
healthcare practitioners to engage in
symptom-focused therapeutic
intercessions, which would help in
alleviating the patients’ anxiety and
assist them with the successful
management of asthma in the future.
Expectations
from doctors
The code “Expectations from doctors” “Expect more education on
focuses on the expectations of
how to manage it.”
participants in terms of compliance and
what doctors should do about their
asthma. They also expressed a need for
their doctors to fully educate them
regarding the forms of asthma, the
signs, and preventive/treatment
measures. The patients claimed that the
significance of getting a proper
consultant, or any detailed elaboration
about their condition, causes, and
possible outcomes cannot be
overestimated. In a similar accord,
most of the participants also raised the
importance of continuing care from the
healthcare providers in the
establishment of asthma selfmanagement regimens that are suited
to the individual contexts of the
patients. This code stresses the need
and importance of communication
between the patient and the provider as
well as involving the patient in
decision-making processes to get the
best results in the management of
asthma. This paper has discussed
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various aspects of patients’
expectations in managing the condition
thus enabling the growth of trusting
relationships between patients and
healthcare practitioners to fully engage
the patients in a more active role in the
management of asthma.
Awareness of
The code ‘Awareness of other
“Installing air ventilations in
alternative asthma treatment methods for asthma’ relates
homes.”
treatments
to the extent to which the participants
acknowledge various other treatment
options for asthma besides the typical
conventional ones. People noted
knowledge regarding other types of
treatment modalities, which are not
medical in particular; like ensuring
ventilation at homes or using filtered
air to improve the indoor environment.
This implicates the understanding of
the environmental conditions and their
influence on the asthmatic symptoms
and as such, encourages people to seek
more ways of preventing causes and
improving the breathing system.
Although the participants had not
personally affirmed, or used these other
treatment options, their knowledge
indicates adopted precautionary
measures, towards asthma and
leverages, readiness to employ other
modalities beyond medications. This
code underscores the value of
integrated and patient-informed care,
where people seek additional
information and support to address an
asthma condition and enhance their
quality of life using interventions that
are beyond multiple medications.
Social support
from family and
friends
The term “Social support from family
“Family treats it like a
and friends,” represents the part of the
regular thing.”
study focusing on the impact of
relations on the ability of asthma
patients to control the illness. Most of
the respondents said that they were
supported by their family members and
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
friends towards the condition of asthma
that they embraced. This support was
expressed in different ways, For
instance, the family members could
suggest an individual exercise more
caution while physical exercises while
friends could console someone during
episodes of asthma.
They could also encourage people to
take the necessary precautions in their
activities such as exercising and
physical activities in general. Social
support was found to play a crucial role
in helping participants voice their
concerns and rely on affection and
instrumental support as they coped
with the difficulties that accompany
asthma. Further on, the culture of
respiratory disease mentally fits within
the sphere of familial and social
expectations allowing individuals to
report the symptoms they experience
and get the necessary assistance if
necessary. In a broad sense, this code
helps to emphasize the importance of
social ties which may contribute to
building relevant coping strategies and
help to improve the quality of life of
people suffering from various chronic
diseases.
Impact on
lifestyle: job
changes
The code “Impact on lifestyle:
”employment and job changes” as to
how asthma operates alters people’s
abilities and opportunities for an
occupation. They outlined situations
when they had to change their
employment in light of the effects of
asthma on their capability to work.
This may entail exiting a profession
that entailed occasions of triggers such
as bad weather, polluted air, or
substances emitting negative effects
such as fumes, smoke, or dust; or
finding a new job that allowed them
adequate time and provisions to
“Left McDonald’s because
of breathing.”
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
manage their asthma. This was true
especially when the change of jobs was
a result of administrative concern with
the aim being taken more seriously in
respiratory health and minimizing
exposure to the environment that
influenced asthmatic conditions.
Further, participants might have looked
for employment opportunities that
allowed flexibility such as shift work
or work from home in the course of
managing this condition. All in all, it is
evident that even minor indications of
the impact of asthma demonstrate the
potential of the disease to have a
significant impact on the lives of
professionals who may previously have
been deemed ‘worried well’.
Codes to Categories – Task 3
Category
Category Meaning
Asthma Symptoms
Perceptions of asthma
symptoms
Family History
Aligned Codes
1. Problem with
breathing,
2. Tubes in lungs
clogged.
3. Shortness of breath.
4. Inhaler use.
5. Hospital treatment
during severe
attacks.
6. Family history of
asthma,
7. Discovery of own
asthma during gym
class.
Family history and impact of Family history of asthma
asthma
Asthma Education
Knowledge and education
about asthma
Asthma Triggers
Environmental and
emotional triggers
Education on asthma
symptoms and treatment
1. Triggers: air quality,
pollution, smoking,
© 2024. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
pets, allergies,
occupation.
2. Work environment
as a trigger.
3. Emotional stress as a
potential trigger.
1. Exercise-induced
asthma.
2. Types of asthma:
chronic, exerciseinduced.
3. Severity of chronic
asthma.
1. Control over asthma
symptoms.
2. Concerns about
worsening asthma.
Expectations from doctors
Asthma Types
Different types and severity
of asthma
Asthma Management
Control over asthma
symptoms
Concerns
Concerns about worsening
asthma
Expectations
Expectations from the
medical community
Awareness of alternative
asthma treatments
Alternative Treatments
Awareness of alternative
asthma treatments
Social support from family
and friends
Social Support
Support from family and
friends
Impact on lifestyle: job
changes
Task 4: Write a reflection (750-1050 words) on the three phases of the coding process you have
just completed. Use the space provided below to address each of the following prompts. The
space will expand as you type.
1. Describe the analytic process you followed. Provide a description of how codes and
clusters of codes or categories were developed. Explain the guidelines you used to
group codes into categories. Explain how these will be related to themes.
2. Discuss how you might further refine your coding process and the reasons for doing
so.
Reflection
Phase 1: Familiarization with Data
In the context of the current framework, my analytic process began with a submersion in
the interview transcripts. After dissecting each transcript several times, the researcher identified
noteworthy parts of the conversation, some topics that appeared more frequently than others, and
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patterns in the flow of the conversation. This first conversational strategy was thus to reach a
point where the researcher had a holistic idea of the storie…
