The correlation between parental education and their knowledge of asthma.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of parental education on the success of Asthma Educational Intervention (AEI). METHODS: AEI took place after the children's hospitalisation. Parental asthma knowledge was assessed at three time points before AEI, immediately after, and 12 months later. The Intervention (I) group of parents (N=231) received complete AEI. The Control (C) group of parents (N=71) received instructions for proper use of asthma medications and the handbook. RESULTS: Asthma knowledge in I group increased immediately after the AEI (p<0.01), and had not changed (p>0.05) 12 months later. There were four subgroups in group I divided based on education level elementary school, high school, college, and university degrees. Taking into account the parental education level, there were no differences in the baseline and final knowledge of asthma between subgroups (p>0.05). The number of asthma exacerbations decreased after AEI (5.962.50, p<0.01), regardless of the parental degree. Knowledge of asthma in group C did not improve during the study (p=0.17). Final asthma knowledge was higher in group I compared to group C (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The parental education level did not influence the level of asthma knowledge after the AEI. The motivation and the type of asthma education had the greatest input on the final results. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS All parents should be educated about asthma regardless of their general education.