Abstract:

Although there are significant developments in the healthcare field and various diseases have been eradicated nowadays, the treatment of social and emotional components of chronic diseases has not been able to be fully realized yet. Social work practices carried out in hospitals and healthcare institutions to prevent and solve the psychosocial problems of the patient and his/her family occurring with the disease make other healthcare providers sensitive about the psychosocial aspects of the disease. Hospital social workers assess the patient and his/her family via individual, family, and group counseling in terms of strengthening the cognitive, emotional, interpersonal communication and social functioning. On the other hand, the fact that their child has a serious health condition leads to the occurrence of disease management in the family. Especially asthma awareness starts necessitating asthma management, and the issue of how to manage asthma constitutes the most significant agenda of caregiver parents in particular. Since the chronic disease is long-term, asthmatic children may exhibit fluctuation in terms of health between the acute and chronic periods; therefore, patients and caregivers should adopt a careful understanding of asthma management. In effective pediatric asthma management, the family emotional climate plays an important role and shapes the direction of intervention of a social worker. Thus, this review study aims to review the responsibilities of social workers in the medical treatment team in fighting childhood asthma, the conditions laying the groundwork for the hospital social work and pediatric asthma management to serve effectively, and the function and roles of social work peculiar to asthma management in the eyes of caregiver parents.

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