Effectiveness of A Nurse-Led Educational Program On Knowledge of Asthma Based On Global Initiative for Asthma Strategy

Asthma is a significant issue in Niger Delta region in Nigeria, especially Rivers State due to side effect of oil exploration. Asthma is generally under- treated resulting in significant burden of disease due to lack of understanding and use of established guidelines and this impacts negatively on the individual, their family, and society as a whole. The study objective is to enhance asthma knowledge among nurses in Rivers State Teaching Hospitals through educational program using adopted GINA guidelinesQuasi-experimental one group pre-post research design was utilized in this study. Self- structure questionnaire developed by researcher was used to collect data before and after the educational program. 52 nurses were purposively selected for this study in collaboration with nurse-leaders in each study setting. 52 questionnaires were administered pre and post educational program and all 52-questionnaire returned yielding 100%. The instrument was validated by supervisor, reliability test using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient yielded 80. Data were analysed using descriptive(percentage) and inferential statistics (paired simple T-test) with use of SPSS version 25. All ethical consideration were strictly adhered to.The findings in this study shows statistically significant improvement in the knowledge of asthma among the participants post educational program with 86.5% (45) of the participants having high level of asthma knowledge against 26.9% (14) of the participants pre -educational program. The summary of paired-sample t-test analysis on the difference in knowledge of asthma before and after nurse led educational program using GINA guideline indicated tcal = 21.00, df = 51, and t_tab = 1.96. Since t_cal>t_tab and P<0.05 indicate significant, hence the null hypothesis which stated that there is no significant difference in knowledge of asthma before and after nurse led educational program using GINA guidelines in Rivers State Teaching Hospitals was rejected. The study concluded that nurse-led educational program using adopted GINA guidelines enhanced nurses’ knowledge of asthma. This implies that with the use of evidence-based guideline, nurses can develop their knowledge, hence enhance their practice of asthma management which will in turn close asthma management gap.

Keywords: Knowledge, educational program, evidence based, global initiative for asthma, guideline., nurse-led