Title : Caregivers knowledge and care children with asthma in North Eastern Thailand
Abstract:
Background: Asthma in children can be controlled and cured by receiving appropriate caring. Caregivers are authority who are influence on the controlled of asthma and the exacerbation of the disease.
Aim: The purpose of this study aimed to examine the knowledge and caring behaviors of caregivers of Thai school-age children with asthma.
Methodology: The purposive samples were 127 caregivers of Thai school-age children who had been treated at the Easy Asthma Clinic in 14 primary government hospitals in North Eastern Thailand. The instruments of this study consisted of a personal questionnaire, the knowledge of asthma and treatment questionnaire, and care children with asthma questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The reliability of these instruments using Kuder-Richardson (KR-20) statistics. The reliability of knowledge questionnaire and care children with asthma questionnaire are 0.74 and 0.68 respectively.
Results: The findings of the study showed that caregivers of Thai school-age children with asthma had good knowledge about stimulating factors, signs of exacerbation, and treatments for asthma (84.3%, 98.4%, and 93.7% respectively). The three lowest knowledge scores of caregivers are the benefited of inhale corticosteroid drugs (ICS), how to used ICS, and side effects of ICS (11.8%, 15.0%, and 16.5% of respectively). Moreover, they had good caregiving behavior about avert stimulus and medication use for asthma (78.0% and 90.6% respectively).
Reccommendation: Healthcare providers should be advice caregivers about medication that used to treat and control exacerbation of asthma. In addition, nurses should raising awareness for caregivers to prevent an aversive stimulus of asthmatic exacerbation.
Audience Take Away Notes:
• Other researchers can use these findings as a base for a comparative study on the knowledge and caring of caregivers in other countries
• Researcher can be using these results for create the intervention to increase caring technique for caregivers
• Nurses should focus on giving advice on correct medication use
