Awareness of asthma and its management in primary school teachers in Baghdad, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a major global health issue characterized by chronic airway inflammation. It is linked to a high disease burden and disproportionately high healthcare utilization in severe, uncontrolled cases compared to non-severe asthma. We aimed to conduct this survey among primary school teachers in Baghdad, Iraq, to assess their level of knowledge about asthma and confidence in managing school children with asthma. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Baghdad. The study adopted a questionnaire for assessing the asthma knowledge and confidence scores regarding the management of asthmatic children. This questionnaire contained 29-multiple true-false questions based on different aspects, including facts about asthma and the management of asthma by teachers. The questionnaire for testing teachers’ knowledge of asthma and confidence scores regarding the management of asthmatic children was distributed to 150 teachers. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 103 teachers.. Approximately 71% of teachers answered the question ‘What are the three main symptoms of asthma?’ correctly i.e., answering either one symptom (35.9%) or two symptoms (35.9%) correctly. A relatively smaller number of teachers (16.5%) mentioned all three symptoms correctly. Across the 29-multiple true-false questions, more than 75% of teachers answered 11 questions correctly, 50-74% of teachers answered the rest of eight questions appropriately, and <50% of teachers answered the remaining 10 questions properly. The statistical evaluation indicated that the mean total knowledge score about asthma for all the teachers was 20.27 ± 2.97 and the mean total confidence score regarding the management of asthmatic children was 72.44 ± 13.61. Conclusions: This study suggests that teachers from the schools in Baghdad appear to be self-confident in their ability and knowledge to help and manage children with asthma.