title: Self-care behavior of adult asthma patients.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify factors potentially associated with asthma self-care behavior among adult asthma patients. A correlational descriptive study was conducted with a convenience sample of 220 adults identified as having moderate-to-severe asthma and receiving outpatient care at a medical center in northern Taiwan. Participants were interviewed by questionnaires. The study found that asthma self-care behaviors were predicted by 5 factors: (1) younger age, (2) not smoking history, (3) better social support, (4) better knowledge, and (5) better skills regarding asthma self-care, accounting for 51.5% of the total variance. The study also showed that the initial model could be modified to obtain a recursive model with good fit. Determinant factors identified by the analysis highlight the need to educate adult asthma patients about self-care to minimize mortality and promote their quality of life.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chang-Gung University, Tao Yuan, Taiwan, ROC. thuang@mail.cgu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Tzu-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001519:Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan