Learning preferences of caregivers of asthmatic children.
BACKGROUND
People learn in different ways: visually, aurally, by reading/writing, and kinesthetically. In our clinic, we use color-coded Asthma Action Cards to educate our patients and their caregivers on asthma management. Our teaching is largely aural based, with the cards providing reading and visual stimulation and hands-on practice with devices offering kinesthetic stimulation.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine the learning styles of the caregivers of our asthmatic children.


METHODS
Caregivers in our Asthma/Allergy Clinic completed the Visual-Aural-Read/Write-Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire anonymously, and the responses were evaluated on the basis of previously validated scoring instructions.


RESULTS
Analysis of 98 respondents showed that 42% had a single learning modality preference, and the remaining 58% were multimodal learners. Of those who reported a single mode of learning, 61% preferred kinesthetic, 27% preferred reading/writing, and less than 1% each preferred aural or visual stimuli. Of all 98 caregivers, 82% included kinesthetic as a learning preference, 59% included read/write, 50% included aural, and 41% included visual.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of caregivers preferred the kinesthetic learning method, whether as a single learning preference or in combination with other approaches. Incorporating kinesthetic methods of learning, such as role plays and problem-solving case scenarios, into standardized asthma education curricula may be beneficial to patients and families in terms of understanding and using their regimen.
Dinakar
Chitra
C
Section of Allergy/Asthma/Immunology, Children's Mercy Hospital, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri 64108, USA. cdinakar@cmh.edu
Adams
Christina
C
Brimer
Alysa
A
Silva
Maria D
MD
D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000145:classification; D007858:Learning; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010358:Patient Participation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology