Exploring the Factors about Asthmatic Knowledge and Skills for Inhalation Therapy of School Age Children with Asthma

• Main Authors: Shu-Hsien Chen, 陳淑賢
• Other Authors: Joe-Chen Yin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81403889839056839485

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 社區護理研究所 === 88 === Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that the correlation influence how asthmatic children acquire their knowledge about this disease, and their skills for inhalation therapy. The study was performed by constructive questionnaires answered by more than or equal too 8-year-old elementary school children with asthma in Taipei area. There were 277 valid samples. The results showed that the average age of disease onset was 4.1years. Two hundred and one（72.8%）of these children were noted to have asthma before 5years of age. The average duration of illness had been 6.5 years. The were 175 children suffered from asthma attack in the past one year. Almost half of the asthmatic children didn’t have fixed interval. One hundred and seven（38.6%）of the children received Chinese herb therapy. In the past year, only 23（17.4%）of those who received inhalation therapy had good compliance. The reasons for poor compliance were mostly due to clinical improvement（51.4%）or being symptom-free（48.6%）. Most children and the families got their knowledge about asthma from hospital healthteam (56.1%). While being tested about the knowledge for asthma, the scoring for medication information is generally low. This is especially true in the understanding of the treatment effect and side effects of inhalation therapy, as well as the correct way to apply inhalor. Families who used inhaled medication had better knowledge about the disease than those who did not （p<.05）.Those family members who participated educational programs and received instruction from doctors had even better scores(t=-2.1,p<.04). For the patients themselves, the factors（that）correlated with better knowledge about asthma included older age, higher socioeconomical status of the family and instructions from medical personnels etc. There were 132 children in this study who had been using inhaled medication during the last 12 months. Among these children, 78.5%of them were able to perform drug inhalation by themselves, whereas 24.2% of them needed assistance from others. It was found that children who inhaled medication by themselves had better knowledge about asthma, and their technique of drug inhalation was more skillful （p<.03）. Children who received instructions from the healthteam, or other family members, who were older, or had more frequent asthma attacks were also more capable of doing the inhalation correctly by themselves (p<.05). From multiple regression analysis, it is found that instructions from healthcare providers, higer socioeconomical status, and children’s age were the best variables in predicting these children’s knowledge about asthma. These variables contributed for 14% of variance toward patients’ knowledge about asthma. The factors that determine how skillful these children perform inhalation were asthma attack within the last year, application of inhalor therapy by themselves older age, receiving instructions from parents or family members, reading related publications, and finally the family’s degree of satisfaction to the physician’s educational program. These variables contributed 23% of variance toward their technique of inhalation. The results of this study implied that patient education of asthma could effectively improve knowledge in asthma and technique of drug inhalation in elementary school children. Results from this study may also help health team to provide better self care program for school children. We propose that school nurse should actively participated in the care of asthmatic children, and such care should be on the personal basis. School nursing should take the responsibility of keeping in touch with patients’ family and coordinating between family, school and the hospital. In doing so these children are provided with more thorough and meticulous supervision. We also suggest that clinical nurse should emphasize in patient education and encourage family’s involvement. Key words：asthma pupils, asthmatic knowledge , technique of inhaling medications