The Effects of Asthma Education On Knowledge, Behavior and Morbidity in Asthmatic Patients

Authors: REZAN DEMİRALAY

Abstract: This work was carried out to study the effect of asthma education on asthma knowledge, behavior and morbidity in asthmatic patients. A randomized double blind controlled study was conducted with 54 adults with asthma followed-up at the outpatient clinic of Chest Diseases and Tuberculosis at the Faculty of Medicine of Suleyman Demirel University. Patients were randomized to the verbal (n: 17), written (n: 19), and verbal-written (n: 18) education groups. Knowledge of asthma was measured at the baseline, and 2 months and 1 year after education. Compliance with treatment, correct inhaler skill and admisssons to hospital in the previous year were assessed in asthmatic patients at the baseline and after 1 year. Before education, knowledge of asthma was low in the 3 education groups. The rate of compliance with treatment was 51.9%. Twenty-four (44.4%) patients had perfect inhaler skill. Thirty-eight (70.4%) patients failed to use their drug regimes in compliance with the Consensus Report. Eleven (20.4%) patients were in strict compliance with the treatment and used their drug regimes in accordance with the Consensus Report. Twenty-six (48.1%) patients were in strict compliance with the treatment and also used inhaled corticosteroids. Eight (14.8%) patients had been hospitalized in the previous year. After education, the mean change in the knowledge score was highest in the verbal-written education group. The mean change in the knowledge score 1 year after education was lower than that 2 months after education. Before and after education, the mean knowledge score was correlated with education level. After 1 year, the rate of compliance with the treatment was 66.6%, the rate of correct inhaler use was 63.0% and the rate of hospital admissions was 11.1%. The results of this study suggested that asthmatic patients did not have sufficient information about their disease, and additional information about asthma increased their asthma knowledge and increased correct inhaler use but had no effect on compliance with treatment or admission to hospital.

Keywords: Asthma, knowledge, patient education, behavior, morbidity

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