Browsing by Author "DADA, ATINUKE OLUWATOYOSI"

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    ASSESSMENT OF ASTHMA FRIENDLINESS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS OSUN STATE
    (2015) DADA, ATINUKE OLUWATOYOSI
    The prevalence of asthma in adolescents has increased globally. Since they spend greater time in the school, uncontrolled asthma can hinder adolescents’ school attendance, participation and progress in school. The school teachers, school nurse, and families should work together to make schools more asthma-friendly so as to reduce morbidity related to asthma. The objectives of the study were to: determine the perception of asthmatic adolescents about the support of the school in the control of their asthma; determine the level of knowledge of teachers on asthma friendly school; identify the perception of teachers’ roles in the control of asthma; describe the teachers’ opinion of partnership between the school and the parents of asthmatic adolescents in the control of asthma; and assess the extent to which the physical school environment is supportive of the control of asthma. Mixed designs using qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used to assess the asthma friendliness of secondary schools in Osun State. The settings were private secondary schools with in-school asthmatic adolescents and a school clinic being coordinated by a school nurse. Eight private secondary schools were purposively selected, 388 teachers randomly selected from these schools and two in-school adolescents were purposively selected from each school to participate in the study. The majority (90.3%) of the teachers had good knowledge of asthma friendly school. As regards the perception of teachers’ roles in the control of asthma; a larger proportion (90%) had good perception, marital status was the major predictor of good perception of teachers’ role in the control of asthma (OR=4.57, p=0.003). The greater proportion of teachers (72.1%) opined that there was no partnership between the school and the parents of asthmatic adolescents in the control of asthma. Posters on general health tips on asthma, asthma first aid poster, and asthma friendly billboards/sign post were observed to be absent in all the schools selected for the study. In conclusion, the perception of asthmatic adolescents about the support of the school in the control of their asthma was satisfactory. The level of knowledge of teachers on asthma friendly school and the perception about their roles in the control of asthma was good. The teachers’ opinion of partnership between the school and the parents of asthmatic adolescents suggested poor partnership, while most features in the physical school environment is supportive of asthma control.