The Perceptions of Healthcare Students toward the Evidence-Based Practice of Asthma Management

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing research work regarding asthma perceptions among different populations, healthcare professional students’ perceptions have not previously been examined. Therefore, it is important to assess healthcare students' perceptions towards the evidence-based practice of asthma management to address the need for designing a targeted intervention to improve understanding of evidence-based management of asthma in college settings. PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the Healthcare students’ perceptions Towards the evidence-based practice of asthma management. METHODS: Data were collected through self-administered survey. RESULTS: Sixty students (N=60) were surveyed from three majors: nursing students accounted for 78.3%; followed by respiratory therapy students 15%; and nutrition students 6.7%. The majority of respondents were female (88.3%), while only seven were male (11.7%). 26.7% of the participants self-declared that they had been diagnosed with asthma. Almost half of the sample had no experience in healththerapy (53.3%). Only three participants (5%) were often treating asthma patients while more than half of the participants had never treated asthma patients (68.3%). The findings revealed that healthcare students reported the strongest agreement on the importance of recognizing the signs and symptoms of asthma with a total mean score of 6.85 (SD±.404). Students who had clinical experience demonstrated significantly greater understanding of asthma treatment than those who had no clinical experience (p=.044). The study showed that students who never treated asthma patients had significantly lower knowledge about the causes of asthma (p=.039), signs and symptoms of asthma (p=.004), and the treatment of asthma (p=.005). Asthmatic students rated their knowledge about the signs and symptoms, and treatment of asthma significantly higher than nonasthmatic students (p=.005, p=.014, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare students have positive perceptions toward the evidence-based practice of asthma management. Further research with larger sample size, various healthcare professions, and different educational institutions is recommended