The Study of the Relationship between Asthma Care Behavior and Health Beliefs among Care Givers of Children with Asthma in Community
Date Issued
2005
Date
2005
Author(s)
Cheng, Pei-Yu
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in children. Its impacts cover biological, psychological, family, and social aspects, and result in rises in medical and social costs. School-age children at are not yet mature individuals; therefore asthmatic pupils rely mainly on caregivers to provide assistance with asthmatic care. In order to find out the current situation of how asthmatic care is being given to school-age pupils by their main caregivers in the community, this study sets out to investigate the correlations among modifying factors, health beliefs, and asthma care behaviors in Becker’s health belief model, as well as fundamental predictors that influence asthmatic care behaviors. Random samplings were conducted in the period from April 14th 2005 to May 11th 2005 on 59 municipal elementary schools in Taichung City, and questionnaires were given to the main caregivers (the research subjects of this study) of asthmatic pupils registered at the health center of 9 elementary schools in Taichung that these pupils go to. A total of 199 completed questionnaires were received.
As the study reveals:
(1) The proportion of boy pupils is higher (64.3%) than that of girl pupils, with a mean age of 9.85 years. 74.88% of the asthmatic pupils experienced their first asthma attack by the age of five. 62.81% are mild asthma patients. 74.37% take asthma medications while 39.2% receive alternative medicine.
(2) The proportion of female main asthma caregivers is higher (83.92%) than that of male ones, with a mean age of 39.45 years. Most of the main caregivers are 35-44 years old (76.38%) and married (91%). 37.2% of them have received high school / vocational school education, while 45.2% belong to a middle social-economic status. The average score for asthma knowledge is 14.6, which equals to a standardized score of 73 and falls into a medium level of asthma knowledge.
(3) The research subjects have an average score of 134.39 in health beliefs, which equals a standardized score of 69.19 and this indicates positive health beliefs.
(4) The research subjects have an average score of 89.01 in asthma care behavior, which equals a standardized score of 68.47 and this indicates a middle-to-high level of caretaking.
(5) The marital status and asthma knowledge of main caregivers are closely related to their caretaking behaviors. Married caregivers and caregivers who score high in asthma knowledge tend to demonstrate better behaviors in caretaking.
(6) In terms of health beliefs, the main caregivers’ caretaking behaviors are positively correlated to their “perceived benefits to action” and “perceived barriers to actions.” The more the “perceived benefits to action” and the less “the perceived barriers to actions,” the better their caretaking behaviors.
(7) Asthma care behaviors are predictable using four variants: modifying factors, including “marital status,” and “asthma knowledge”; and health beliefs, including “perceived benefits to action,” and “perceived barriers to actions.” These variants function to account for 22.2% of all asthma care behavior variances, while asthma knowledge stands out as a significant predictor in predicting caretaking behaviors.
Key words: asthma care behavior; health beliefs; caregivers
Subjects
氣喘照護行為
健康信念
主要照顧者
asthma care behavior
health beliefs
care givers
Type
other
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