AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BRONCHIAL ASTHMA AMONG MALE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TAIF, KSA

Background: Bronchial asthma, as the most common childhood chronic condition of several etiological factors, has a wide range of incidence with no evidenced prevalence among Taif City populations. However, despite its wide distribution, the general knowledge about the condition is still unassessed. Methodology:  A cross-sectional study conducted among primary school teachers in different boy schools in Taif City has been introduced an Arabic version of the Newcastle Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire [31] as a self-administered questionnaire to assess teachers` knowledge regarding asthma. Data were collected and analyzed using the SPSS version 26. Results: The study included 414 teachers. Of all, 96.9% had poor knowledge about bronchial asthma. Poor knowledge is significantly associated mainly with age, marital status, number of offspring, and having a previous history of similar condition, while having false information and myths regarding the condition is associated with the older age, Saudi nationality, and more years of experience. Teachers were able to identify the trigger of an attack of asthma were about 85.7%, only 5.6% have knowledge about the condition management, with 36% preferring inhaled to tablet drugs. In addition, it was agreed that prevention is important in cases of recurrent attacks (82.9%). Conclusion: Our study has reported poor knowledge about the condition, with falsely believed ideas about medications used or children’s habits or activity to counteract the onset of asthma, increasing with age. Better knowledge was found in married teachers of middle age and had a family history of asthma.