Children with CF report being ‘nagged’ routinely to complete their daily treatments [2,3]. They describe physiotherapy as boring, no fun, and in some cases ‘don’t see the point’ of doing physiotherapy [3].
Adolescents become frustrated by being caught up in control struggles with parents or other authority figures [3]. Striving to be ‘normal-teenagers’ by omitting time-consuming treatment sessions because they interfere with after-school social events [3], adherence to respiratory treatments has been shown to decrease during adolescence [4].
Research also shows that, once established, a routine of nagging and non-supportive behaviours related to treatment is a predictor of psychological maladjustment for adolescents [5]. Family relationships including levels of cohesion, conflict and expressiveness have a significant impact on young people’s psychological functioning and adjustment [6].
More positive family relationships result in better adherence to airway clearance treatments and aerosolised medication [5]. Hence, family relationships have been suggested as appropriate targets for interventions at improving adherence [7]. Supervised physiotherapy has been shown to increase quality of life for patients, require fewer courses of intravenous antibiotics and reduce hospital admissions [8,9].
In short, better adherence to regular chest physiotherapy should result in significant cost savings for care providers.