Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor, Community Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Damanhur University, Egypt. and Associate Professor, Community Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, The British University in Egypt.
2
Assistant Professor, Pediatric Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Damanhur University, Egypt. and Assistant Professor, Maternal and Child Health Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Jouf University, Saudi Arabia
3
Lecturer, Community Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Damanhour University, Egypt.
Abstract
Background: Children with intellectual disability are at an increased risk of bronchial asthma. Unfortunately, no
specific guidelines exist for dealing with and managing Intellectually Disabled (ID) children with Bronchial
Asthma (BA). Recent innovations in medical care have shifted asthma treatment from hospitalization to
ambulatory care. Consequently, mothers’ care has become the most important part of the treatment, and almost
all treatment responsibilities have fallen on them. Aim: to determine asthma-related knowledge, management,
and burden among mothers of intellectually disabled children with bronchial asthma. Design: An explanatory
sequential mixed design was used. Settings: All governmental intellectual disability schools distributed in 6
educational directorates affiliated with El-Beheira Governorate (6 mixed gender schools). Subjects: Purposive
sample of mothers with children with intellectual disability and bronchial asthma. Tools: Four data collection
tools were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data for the study; For quantitative data, three structured
interview schedule tools were used as follows: Tool I: Personal Characteristics and Health Profile of Children,
Tool II and III: Asthma-Related Knowledge and Management of Mothers Regarding their Intellectually Disabled
Children with Bronchial Asthma. While for qualitative data, Tool IV Focus Group Discussion Guide (FGD) for
the mothers of Intellectually Disabled Children with Bronchial Asthma was used. Results: It was found that the
majority (78.6%) of mothers with a good BA knowledge level had a good BA management score. On the other
hand, the majority (97.7%) of mothers with poor BA knowledge had a poor BA management score (X2: 51.3, p
<0.001). Regarding the qualitative data, it was clustered into four categorical schemes: 1: Caring role, 2:
Constant concern, 3: Caring impacts on life and 4: Unmet needs. Conclusion: it can be concluded that more
than half of the mothers of intellectually disabled children with bronchial asthma had a poor knowledge score.
Moreover, more than two-thirds of them had a poor management score. Caring for intellectually disabled
children with bronchial asthma negatively affects mothers’ health, relationships, social status, financial stability,
emotional and psychological well-being. The mothers struggle with unmet social, psychological, and financial
needs. Recommendations: The current study recommended raising awareness, designing an asthma
management training program and providing psychological and social support for mothers of intellectually
disabled children with bronchial asthma to improve the care provided to their children
Keywords
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