The Effect of Educating Proper Use of Inhaled Corticosteroid Sprays on the Asthmatic Patients' Attitude towards Treatment and Control of Asthma

Since proper use of drugs by patients is under the influence of their beliefs and attitudes, we decided to conduct a study to determine the effect of training of asthmatic patients for appropriate use of inhaled corticosteroids sprays (ICS) on their attitude and asthma control. This study was semi-experimental with two groups of case and control. One hundred ninety patients were enrolled in the study and randomly were allocated to either two groups. Ninety patients in each group finished the study. Pre-training researcher made questionnaire was completed by all of the participants. Nine sessions of one-hour training on how to properly use the inhalers, were held for patients in the case group. Two months later, the questionnaire was completed by all the patients again. Student and paired T-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze data. Demographic characteristics of two groups were similar. Training could reduce patients’ anxiety (p=0.0001) and increase their interest (p=0.0001) and self-esteem (p=0.0001). Overall attitude score in the case and control groups were 68.23 ± 6.69 and 58.69 ± 10, respectively (p=0.001). Average score of asthma control in the trained group was significantly higher than the other (p=0. 001). Control of asthma did not have a substantial relationship with the level of education (p=0.061) and gender (p=0.116) of patients. Overall, education could have a positive effect on patient attitude and improve control of asthma. Therefore, training patients could increase the effectiveness of therapy and lower the costs on patients and the society.