In paediatric Asthma, involvement of caregivers is essential, therefore a satisfactory level of parental knowledge influences the effectiveness of treatment of bronchial asthma as an important part in prevention of exacerbations and complications the hypothesis of this research is that good knowledge about bronchial asthma among asthmatic children's caregivers can lead to better control of asthma.
Aim of this research: to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among caregivers of asthmatic children and evaluate factors affecting level of KAP.
Subject and Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 150 caregivers of asthmatic children for follow up in chest and allergy outpatient clinic in pediatric specialized hospital, Cairo University. They were interviewed to fill a predesigned structured questionnaire to cover basic demographic and personal data, criteria of asthma control and to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding bronchial asthma. Then find the correlation between KAP score and the association between (KAP) and other factors like educational level, occupation of caregiver, level of asthma control and assessment of KAP score as a predictor of asthma control.
Results: The KAP score ranged from 31 to 73 with average of 53 ±10 SD. The 50Th percentile of KAP score was fifty-five and this was considered the cut-off value to categorize KAP score into good (above 50th percentile) which was present in 73 caregivers (48.7%) and poor (below 50th percentile) in 77 caregivers (51.3%). Good KAP was significantly correlated to occupation of the caregiver and level of asthma control (p value < 0.05). Also, caregivers with good KAP score, their children were 8 times more likely to be controlled than those with bad KAP score (OR=8.4, 95% CI=3.3-21.3).and caregivers who achieved universal education, their children were more likely to be controlled than those who are illiterate (OR=4.8, 95% CI= 1.0-22.8).