Background: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that most often emerges in childhood and affects millions of children around the world. Asthma can affect parents and their children more or less depending on how severe asthma is. When children are cared for, parents are an important and necessary resource for the child's well-being. That´s why it´s important to support not only the child but also parents in the care process.

Aim: The purpose of this literature study is to describe experiences of parents who care for a child with asthma.

Method: This study was based on systematic literature search which was based on ten qualitative articles that responded to the purpose of the study.

Results: The results showed that parents caring for a child with asthma often experienced concern, frustration, hope and need for knowledge about asthma. Parents experienced great deal of concern before child was diagnosed, during deterioration periods and concern about negative side effects medication could cause in the future for the children. Frustration emerged when dealing with health care professionals and school/preschool staff. Despite everyday concern, frustration, lack of knowledge parents still felt hope for the future.

Conclusion: Nurses have continuous contact with parents that care for children with asthma. Parents caring for child with asthma need a great deal of support from health care system to be able to manage child's illness best way they can. Increased understanding and knowledge about parents experience makes it possible for nurses to have an open dialog with parents and include them better in their child's care.