Nashi Al-Reshidi
University of Salford Manchester, Saudi Arabia
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Pediat Therapeut
Background: In Saudi Arabia, more than 2 million people complain of asthma: 13% being aged 6-10 years. This makes asthma one of the most common illnesses among children in Saudi Arabia. Little has been explored about children�s ability to learn more about their own asthma in Saudi Arabia. Aims: The study was designed to assess the impact of a school-based, nurse-delivered asthma heath education programme on asthmatic children�s knowledge and attitude towards asthma, quality of life, anxiety level, and school absenteeism. Methods: A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent group, pretest-posttest design was used. The education programme was developed from existing evidence. The Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire, Spence Anxiety Tool, Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire, and Asthma Attitude Questionnaire were employed for data collection in 2013. Intervention (n=130) and control (n=98) groups were drawn from 10 schools in Hail region, Saudi Arabia. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine differences between groups. Results: The level of asthma knowledge was increased significantly more in the intervention group than in the control group (F=26.5746, df 2, p<0.001). Attitude toward asthma was not changed by the intervention (F=0.0490, df 2, p=0.9522). There was a significantly greater reduction in the intervention group than in the control group in anxiety (F=3.7599, df 2, p=0.0242), and in absenteeism from school (F=2.98, df 2, p=0.003). Total quality of life increased significantly more in the intervention group (F=87.6534, df 2, p<0.001). Conclusion: The asthma educational program was impacted positively on students� knowledge, anxiety, quality of life, and school attendance. However, asthma education did not change attitudes towards the condition. Asthma education should be integrated into the national child health programme. This presentation will focus on the intervention and results, emphasizing the provision of health education directly to children.
Nashi Al-Reshidi is a doctoral research student in the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Sciences Work in the University of Salford. He is the Manager of Continuing Nursing Education in the Ha’il region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a Diploma in Nursing from KSA, a BSc in Nursing from the Applied Science University in Jordan, and MSc in Nursing from Griffith University in Australia.
Email: namn2006@hotmail.com
