A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Practice of Patients with Bronchial Asthma Regarding Prevention of Recurrent Attacks of Asthma

The prevalence of asthma has increased globally. More than 300 million people around the world have asthma and its prevalence increased by 50% every decade. Asthma control is achievable for nearly every patient.

To assess the knowledge and practice of bronchial asthma patients regarding prevention of recurrent attacks of asthma.

Descriptive research design was used. The study comprises of 80 bronchial asthma patients selected by convenient sampling technique. Structured Knowledge questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and checklist to assess the practice of subjects.

The study findings revealed that the knowledge of bronchial asthma patients was determined with mean of 12.85 and standard deviation of 6.82. The mean score percentage was 42.83. The mean score for practice was 10.8 with standard deviation 5.66. The mean score percentage was 43.2. The linear correlation between overall knowledge and practice was r = 0.933 (significant at 0.01 level). The correlation analysis shows a highly significant relationship between knowledge and practice. The chi-square test value reveals that there was a significant association between knowledge and practice of bronchial asthma patients with selected demographic variables.

The study concludes that the selected bronchial asthma patients knowledge and practice regarding prevention of recurrent attacks of asthma was inadequate. Since the majority of people have inadequate knowledge. A self-instructional module on management, prevention and control of asthma attacks is developed.