The Effect of Self-Care Education on the Quality of Life in Children with Allergic Asthma

Asthma is a condition where the airways become tiny and swollen producing extra mucus. This can cause breathing difficulty and wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. Self-care education affects the quality of life of children. This study examined the effect of self-care education on quality of life for children between 8 and 11 years with allergic asthma. This study was a randomized controlled trial. Study sample included 70 children between 8 and 11 years with asthma allergy referred to Children's Hospital Clinic of Khorramabad, Lorestan Province in 2015; they were selected by possible non-consecutive sampling method. Children were divided by random sampling of blocks, and classified into two groups of 35 patients each in the experimental and control groups. Both groups were matched for age and sex of children's and parents' educational level and initial quality of life scores were analyzed (using covariance analysis). At the beginning, quality of life was calculated by the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) for each of the group. The intervention was carried out in four sessions of 45 minutes of self-care education for children in the case group. No intervention was done in the control group. Eight weeks later quality of life was measured in each of the group. There was a significant difference between increase values of PAQLQ in the intervention group and control group (p < 0.001). These results show that self-care education enhances the quality of life in asthmatic children.