Abstract:
The present study was a randomized controlled trial whose objective was to study the effects of education and inhaler skills program through line application on symptom control among asthmatic patient. The sample comprised 64 asthmatic patients who sought treatment at the outpatient examination room in a tertiary hospital, Bangkok. Block random assignment was used to assign the sample into the experimental group (N = 32) and the control group (N = 32). The control group received the regular nursing care and the handbook for asthmatic patient. The experimental group received the education and inhaler skills program through line application developed based on IMB model. There was a 6-week trial period. Data were analyzed by Independent t-test. The results showed that the experimental group and the control group were female, 81.3% and 68.8%, respectively. The experimental group had the average age of 59.47 years (SD = 9.87), and the control group, the average age of 58.13 years (SD = 12.65). It was found that before the experiment, the experiment group and the control group were not significantly different; in fact, the mean asthma control scores of the experimental group before and after the program were 3.56 (SD = .76) and .56 (SD = .62), respectively, and those of the control group were 3.13 (SD = .55) and 1.50 (SD = .76), respectively. After the experiment, the level of asthma control in asthmatic patients in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group at a statistical significant level of p < .001. Recommendations were that nurses use the education and inhaler skills program through line application to provide disease knowledge, develop inhaler skills with information, feedback and two-way communication to increase the effectiveness of symptom control in asthmatic patients