CORTICOSTEROID PHOBIA AMONG PARENTS OF ASTHMATIC CHILDREN AND ITS IMPACT ON ASTHMA MANAGEMENT IN HAIL REGION

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. ICS are the cornerstone of asthma treatment in adults and children. The aim of the study to detect and estimate the presence of phobia among parents of asthmatic children and to measure the impact of corticosteroid phobia on management and control of childhood asthma. 326 parents of asthmatic children were interviewed using structural questionnaire. The study showed that 84.53% have phobia due to use corticosteroid and 14.92% haven?t, and most of the parents who have corticosteroid phobia either minimized the prescribed dose of corticosteroid (49.7%) or completely stopped it (22.5%) which is significantly high when compared to those who have no phobia who minimize the dose of corticosteroid (23.5%) and those who completely stopped it (17.6%). Conclusion: This study aims to state the presence of phobia towards corticosteroid use in the management of asthma among parents of asthmatic children and its effect on their treatment. from the results It is clear that there is true fear of using corticosteroid. Multiple sources including medical staff are the main cause of parents? phobia towards corticosteroid use. The study also showed that there is a significant impact of this phobia on the adherence to prescribed corticosteroid for treatment or control of bronchial asthma, as considerable number of parents stopped or minimized the dose due to their phobia.