A preliminary study to evaluate a patient-centred asthma education programme on parental control of home environment and asthma signs and symptoms in children with moderate-to-severe asthma

摘要

Aims and objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a nurse-led patient-centred asthma education programme on home environmental control behaviours of parents of children with moderate or severe asthma. Background: Reducing allergic triggers is important self-management behaviour for preventing asthma attacks and patient-centred asthma education has been shown to effectively manage chronic disease. Design: A preliminary quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design was used. Method: Dyads (n = 75) of parents and their children with moderate or severe asthma (ages 6-14 years) were purposively recruited from the asthma clinics of two hospitals in central Taiwan. The experimental group of 38 children/parents from one hospital received patient-centred asthma education. The comparison group of 37 children/parents from the other hospital received routine individual education. At pretest and at the end of the three-month patient-centred asthma education programme, we measured parents' control of home environmental triggers, children's asthma signs/symptoms and children's pulmonary function. Data were analysed by the general linear model for repeat measures. Results: The level of improvement in dust and cleaning methods was significantly greater among parents in the experimental group than among those in the comparison group (p < 0·05). Children with moderate or severe asthma in the experimental group had fewer signs/symptoms of asthma and better lung function than children in the comparison group. Conclusions: Our patient-centred asthma education programme improved parents' home environmental control and children's asthma sign/symptoms and lung function. Relevance to clinical practice: Nurses can play primary roles as patient educators in asthma clinics. Well-trained patient educators can continuously monitor self-management behaviours to improve patients' compliance with home environmental control, thus leading to better physical outcomes in children with asthma than routine individual asthma education alone.