Knowledge about Asthma, Empathy, and Attitudes to Child with Asthma for Students in a University of Education

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify knowledge about asthma, attitude to asthma, and empathy for children with asthma as held by university of education students, and to examine the relation between these variables and factors that influence them. METHODS: Participants were 347 third and fourth year students from a national university of education in G city. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients, ANOVA and Tukey test with SPSS/WIN 18.0. RESULTS: The score for participants' knowledge about asthma was 0.53 out of a possible 1, for empathy, 3.63 out of a possible 5, and for attitude towards asthma, 3.33 points of a possible 5. The attitude towards asthma showed significant differences according to year, satisfaction with major, and satisfaction with practice teaching. Knowledge about asthma and empathy showed a positive correlation with attitudes to children with asthma. Year and Knowledge about asthma, and empathy showed a significant influence on attitudes to children with asthma. CONCLUSION: Results of this study indicate that development of appropriate knowledge and empathy in students in a university of education should lead to positive attitudes to children with asthma. This development could be enhanced with structured and on-going education about asthma.