Assessment of Asthma Knowledge of Parents of Children with Bronchial Asthma

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding bronchial asthma plays a crucial role in the management and control of this chronic disease. While good asthma knowledge of the parents helps in better control of the disease in their children, it remains variable among the parents. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the outpatient asthma clinic of a tertiary center. New Castle Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire (NAKQ) were filled out by the caregivers of children (between 7 and 15 years, diagnosed as per global initiative for asthma guidelines) with bronchial asthma, after obtaining the proper consent. The validated Hindi version of the NAKQ questionnaire had a total of 31 questions regarding knowledge, acute asthma attacks, maintenance management, and misconceptions. Results: Eighty-five parents responded to the NAKQ questionnaire during this 1-year duration. 58 (68.24%) were fathers, and 27 (31.76%) were mothers, filling out the questionnaires. The knowledge score of the respondents enrolled in the study ranged from 10 to 18, the median knowledge score was 14, and the mean knowledge score of respondents was 14.02 ± 1.93. Conclusion: The mean knowledge score of the parents of bronchial asthma patients was found to be low in our setting as compared to other studies where a similar questionnaire was used.