Asthma knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy in Iranian asthmatic patients

Worldwide, numerous people of all ages and ethnicities experience asthma. The achievements of current medical regimens for patients frequently depend on three factors: 1) knowledge of patients regarding this disease, 2) patient's attitude about asthma, including willingness to collaborate with the therapeutic group for disease control and 3) patient's self-efficacy for controlling asthma. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy with socio-economic factors in Iranian asthmatic patients during 2006-2008.

Participants consisted of 120 adults referred to Milad Hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2006 to 2008 whose physicians diagnosed their asthma. Socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, education level, occupation, marital status, family history of asthma, disease costs, and period of sickness were reviewed. Assessments of knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy were performed by the Persian version of an international standard questionnaire (KASE-AQ). Data were analyzed by SPSS version 14.

Among respondents, only 9 (7.5%) patients had good knowledge about asthma, 108 (90%) patients had a suitable attitude about their asthma and 103 (85.3%) patients had proper self-efficacy. We found a significant association between self-efficacy and attitude in asthmatic patients (P<0.05).

Although specific knowledge about asthma is low, however, favorable attitudes toward asthma create opportunities to intervene and improve asthma management among patients. However, the use of educational tools depends on patients' educational levels. Therefore, we recommend elevating asthma knowledge.