Effect of medical education on quality of life in adult asthma patients.
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies revealed that many asthma patients did not understand how to manage their disease, which in turn affected their quality of life. This study investigated the effect of asthma education on quality of life in Taiwanese adults with asthma.


METHODS
A before and after quasi-experimental design was used. A total of 85 asthma patients were recruited from the asthma clinic of a medical center in northern Taiwan using purposive sampling. Among these patients, 31 were assigned to the experimental group and 54 to the control group. The experimental group received four 1-hour sessions of group education, while the control group received no instruction. Data were collected at 2 different stages: enrollment (baseline), and at 1 month after enrollment. All subjects completed the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire and the Asthma General Knowledge Questionnaire for Adults. Data were analyzed using independent-samples t test and paired t test.


RESULTS
After completing the asthma education sessions, the mean scores on asthma knowledge significantly increased from 19.65 to 23.06 (p < 0.001) in the experimental group. The mean scores for overall quality of life significantly increased from 5.06 to 5.42 (p < 0.01). The mean scores in the symptom domain and the exposure to environmental stimuli domain also significantly increased from 5.07 to 5.46 (p < 0.01) and 4.94 to 5.52 (p < 0.001) after education. However, the mean scores of the control group on the same questionnaire did not change significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
Asthma education can significantly improve asthma knowledge and quality of life in adult asthma patients.
Yang
Muh-Lan
ML
Department of Nursing, Kang-Ning Junior College of Nursing, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chiang
Chi-Huei
CH
Yao
Grace
G
Wang
Kwua-Yun
KY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011788:Quality of Life; D013624:Taiwan