Knowledge and Attitude of Care-Givers about their Children S Bronchial Asthma in Taif Region KSA

Background Asthma is a serious global health problem, proper management of bronchial asthma of children requires attention to the behavior of mothers of asthmatic children, which is much effected by their knowledge about bronchial asthma in general. Objective The aim of our work was to study the knowledge and attitude of care-givers of children with bronchial asthma in Taif region. Methods (104) Care giver of asthmatic children were interviewed from in-patients and pulmonology clinic of Taif children hospital over one year period (1 November 2015- 31 October 2016). The Arabic version of the Chicago Community Asthma Survey was applied, which collects data in 2 domains-knowledge (10 items) and attitude (4 items) from care-givers of asthmatic children. Results Our result Showed that the majority of care- givers 86 (82.7 %) their knowledge concerning asthma was fair, meanwhile only 6 (5.8 %) was good, and 12 (11.5 %) had poor knowledge. Although their mean asthma knowledge score was high (68.94 11.82), the majority had lake of knowledge concerning the diagnosis of bronchial asthma and its chronicity, reflecting its perception of being stigmatizing. Moreover majority 63.5 % (66/104) of responders believed that the asthmatic child should not be permitted to play sports. Thus sustained efforts are required from health providers to spread knowledge about aspects of asthma, and public healtheducation programs are needed to dispel myths and misconceptions, thus trying to eliminate stigma in community regarding bronchial asthma.