Caregivers’ experiences with implementing asthma management guidelines for children who attend a hospital in the Western Cape

Abstract

Asthma education aims to reduce exacerbations by helping the patient or the caregivers to recognize early warning signs and act accordingly. However, a number of studies have indicated that childhood asthma morbidity is still rising. The goal of this research study is to explore the caregivers’ experiences of implementing the asthma education guidelines. The question to be answered by this research is: “How do caregivers experience the implementation of the guidelines for preventing an asthma attack?” Caregivers attending the asthma clinic at Red Cross War Memorial Children Hospital, Rondebosch were the study population who participated in this qualitative study. Purposive sampling was applied for recruiting participants to the study. A semi-structured, open –ended interview schedule was used to collect data from individuals during semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The data was analysed according to the guidelines of Creswell (2009). The results showed that care-givers found the education programme useful. They also reported that the education programme were offered at their level and was easy to understand. Care-givers indicated that the programme should continue because they learnt every time they attended and found that the practical demonstrations were particularly useful.