Abstract
Patient education is an integral part of asthma care. It is important to know the prevalent beliefs in the society so that the common misconceptions can be clarified in education sessions. Hence a questionnaire based study about asthma was conducted. The questionnaire was developed in local languages and was self-filled by total 100 asthma patients. A total of 54 beliefs about causes, diagnosis and treatment of asthma were evaluated. The analysis brought out some critical misconceptions about asthma. 27% believed that asthma is contagious and 86% believed that it is transmitted by coughing. 38% did not know the difference between allergen and triggers of asthma. 69% did not feel any need to evaluate for asthma if they had allergic rhinitis. 87% felt that asthma can be diagnosed with X-ray or blood tests and only 15% knew about spirometry. 49% felt that tablets are the main treatment of asthma. 38% believed that alternative medicine is a validated treatment for asthma. 35% believed that regular preventive treatment for asthma may lead to growth retardation of children. 63% believed that getting free from symptoms mean cure of asthma and 91% were not comfortable to continue asthma treatment when symptom free. 50% believed that limitation of activities and diet restrictions are necessary for asthma control. Also, 59% patients believed that inhalers cause dependency and hence should be avoided. The study highlights a large gap between the recommended asthma treatment and the ground reality in a developing country. Tremendous efforts and regular patient education on large scale is required. Some mis-beliefs were communicated to patients by the doctors and hence they also need training. Use of spirometry needs to be encouraged.
- © 2013 ERS