Search

Background Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions among children. Despite the improvement in asthma treatment regimens, its prevalence and related morbidity are increasing, especially among underserved, minority children. There are barriers in the management of asthma, which may impact the quality of outcomes. The goal of this study is to explore these barriers. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on interview data collected through 2019 from mothers of children (aged 6 - 12 years) with asthma visiting, for convenience, a public shopping mall. The interviewees were randomly selected, because they met the inclusion criteria. Participants were considered if the mother answered “yes” to the following questions: Has your child had physician-diagnosed asthma? Is your child currently taking asthma medications of asthma? Two community nurses conducted the interviews. Data was obtained using administrative questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive statistics of percentage, mean, frequency and standard deviation were applied for categorical and continuous variables. Results Three hundred mothers participated in this study. Their average age was 36.8 years, 55% were housekeepers by profession, and 34% had obtained less than high school education. The majority of children (61%) were males, 45% had moderate asthma, and 42% had mild asthma. The most frequent types of barriers identified by parents were environmental factors (67.7%), followed by health care providers (63%), the health care system (48%), and patient or family characteristics (43%). Mothers were specifically concerned about the use, safety, and long-term complications of medications, the impact of exercise limitation on their child’s quality of life, and their own quality of life. Conclusion This study showed several barriers against asthma care in Saudi Arabia, which mainly related to environmental or personal characteristics. This highlights the need to enhance current policies within the health care system in Saudi Arabia to overcome these barriers.

Almost a quarter of children in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are diagnosed with asthma, and it is the third most common reason for hospital admissions, representing a major public health challenge. This article review is a chapter from PhD thesis that identified the perspective of health professional and patients about the nursing role during pediatric asthma management based Burawoy’s extended case method. A qualitative paradigm was deemed to be most appropriate to fully grasp the meanings that the participants attach to the phenomenon of childhood asthma management. Then, this review described a a new Nursing Role Development Model as a way of conceptualising the nursing role generally, in order to recognize the importance of multi-level environments as well as interactions between the levels as key factors influencing development which may applied to the field in Saudi Arabia. The impact of the clinical nurse specialist enhances patient care and promotes professional nursing practice. This article provides a review of the asthma management and its challenges, a description of multifactor such as professional power, policy, culture and gender roles on stakeholders’ perceptions of nurses in general and asthma nurse specialists in particular, and a discussion of opportunities and potential threats to future growth of the clinical nurse specialist role.

Asthma is one of the most common diseases in the world, with particularly high prevalence in KSA. Poor asthma management compliance, including inaccurate diagnoses, inappropriate medication use, poor patient knowledge, low understanding of the disease, unsatisfactory self-management adherence, incorrect techniques in administering inhalant medications and insufficient education are known to exist. The aims of this study is to assess asthma knowledge, attitudes and practice among the health professionals within two hospitals in Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia. This survey was carried out using self-reporting questionnaires. The hospital was a Level 3 site because it has an Emergency department that is open for admissions 24 hours a day, and is equipped with a Medical Assessment Unit. For this survey, a descriptive approach was adopted. 112 (n=112) health professionals were interviewed (nurses n=65 and doctors n=47) through the use of a convenience sample. The data was collected using a combination of two questionnaires, both of which were validated and deemed reliable while inclusive of demographics. Findings may also be used in the planning and implementation of awareness programmes about asthma care and its treatment. Finally, the findings of the study may be valuable to researchers interested in conducting further studies to improve asthma management.