PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental Psychology
External influences on children’s behaviour – Chaney, Clements, Landau, Bulsara and Watt
CHANEY, G., CLEMENTS, B., LANDAU, L., BULSARA, M. and WATT, P. (2004)
A new asthma spacer device to improve compliance in children: a pilot study.
Respirology, 9, (4) 499-506.
5. Outline of the procedure/study
• Firstly, a comparison was made between the aerosol output of the standard/small volume spacer device (235ml Breath-a-Tech) and the 225ml
Funhaler. Overall no significant differences were observed. The comparison was therefore complementary, indicating that the use of a Funhaler
rather than a standard inhaler does not compromise drug delivery.
• As part of this process, participants were approached by the researcher at home initially before the Funhaler was mentioned and were
interviewed with a questionnaire on their existing use of the inhaler.
• Then they were give the Funhaler for two weeks and reported over the phone on an ad hoc basis to take snapshots of whether they had used
the Funhaler the previous day.
• Matched questionnaires were competed (by parents) after sequential use of the Breath-a-Tech inhaler and the Funhaler.
• After sequential use of the Breath-a-Tech inhaler and the Funhaler they were then visited again by the researcher and parents were interviewed
and completed the matched questionnaires.
• Data collected from the self-report related to how easy each device was to use, compliance of parents and children, and treatment attitudes.
Furthermore, during the course of the study each parent was called at random to find out whether they had attempted to medicate their child
the day before.
• The Funhaler incorporates a number of features to distract the attention of children from the drug delivery event itself and to provide a means
of self reinforcing the use of effective technique. The Funhaler makes spacers appealing to children in the following ways:
(i) It isolates incentive toys (eg spinner and whistle) in a separate branch to the standard inhalation circuit, placing them outside the expiratory
valve of the spacer to avoid problems of contamination and interference of drug delivery.
(ii) The design of the toys themselves ensures sufficient inspiratory resistance to minimise entrainment of inspired air through the toy circuit.
(iii) The design attempts to link the optimal function of the toys to deep breathing pattern conducive to effective medication.
(iv) The design anticipates the potential for boredom of children with particular incentive toys in its modular arrangement which would allow
the replacement of the incentive toy module with a range of different toys.
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