Curricular intervention increases adolescents' knowledge about asthma: a randomized trial

Asthma education and its impact on pediatric asthma severity: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE

Asthma education has been shown to improve asthma control. Our goal was to evaluate the efficacy of asthma education on the frequency of utilization of health-care services, lung function results, degree of asthma severity, and quality of life (QOL) level in children with asthma.

METHODS

A single-arm prospective interventional trial was conducted in a tertiary facility. Thirty children with asthma and their parents were recruited for the research. Following an assessment of the participants' and caregivers' knowledge about asthma using an asthma knowledge questionnaire, degree of asthma control using asthma control test, inhaler technique using standardized inhaler technique checklists, and QOL using pediatric asthma QOL questionnaires, they participated in a three-month education program in the form of monthly live interactive sessions followed by weekly phone interviews. Measures taken before and after the intervention were compared.

RESULTS

The educational intervention improved asthma control dramatically including daytime asthma symptoms, night awakenings, and frequency of use of short-acting beta2- adrenergic receptor agonists. Furthermore, the number of emergency department visits and hospitalizations fell considerably after the intervention (p < 0.001 for all). Asthma education was also linked to better inhalation technique and lung function (p < 0.001). Furthermore, all quality-of-life measures increased (p < 0.001 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

Implementing an asthma education program that included both children with asthma and their parents improved asthma control levels, lung function measures, and overall quality of life. Furthermore, it increased asthma awareness, decreased the use of health-care resources, and reduced asthma severity, resulting in better asthma management.

Knowledge and perception about asthma among students in a Nigerian single-sex secondary school

INTRODUCTION

Asthma is prevalent among children and adolescents. Few studies have assessed the knowledge and perceptions of asthma among adolescents.

OBJECTIVES

This study assessed the knowledge and perception about asthma among secondary school students in an all-girls school in Nigeria.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted in a Nigerian secondary school in Enugu State (February 2020). In Senior Secondary School (SS1, SS2 and SS3), students could be in one of three specialized classes: Sciences, Humanities and Business. A self-administered structured questionnaire was filled by conveniently sampled students in SS1 and SS2. Inferential statistics utilized the Pearson's chi-square test and multiple linear regression with statistical significance set as P < 0.05.

RESULTS

Three hundred and eighty-eight (388) students participated in the study (mean age = 14.64 ± 0.93 years). Majority of the students were in Science class (n = 299; 77.1%). There was high awareness about asthma (n = 384; 99.0%). More than half of them had good asthma knowledge (n = 279; 71.9%); close to three-fifths had favourable perception of asthma (n = 222; 57.2%). More students in SS2 had good knowledge of asthma compared to those in SS1 (76.7% vs. 67.2%; ꭓ²  = 4.338; P = 0.037). More students in Science class had favourable perceptions about asthma compared with those in Humanities and Business class (60.5% vs. 48.1% vs. 25.0%; ꭓ²  = 7.458; P = 0.024).

CONCLUSION

Majority of the students were aware about asthma and had good knowledge of the disease while close to three-fifths had favourable perceptions about asthma.