THE USE OF AN INTERACTIVE COMPUTER-PROGRAM FOR THE EDUCATION OF PARENTS OF ASTHMATIC-CHILDREN

Objective: To assess whether an interactive computer program improves the asthma knowledge of parents of asthmatic children attending a resp iratory clinic, and to assess the acceptability of this educational me thod to parents, Methodology: Parents' knowledge was assessed before a nd one month after using the computer program, Knowledge scores were c ompared using paired Student's t-tests. Parents' comments about the pr ogram were invited. Results: Whilst knowledge scores improved after ex posure to the computer program, the improvement was not statistically significant (P=0.06). However, parents felt subjectively that the prog ram was both enjoyable and useful to them. Conclusion: Used as the sol e instrument for asthma education, the program did not produce a large increase in asthma knowledge in the study population. It was, however , universally popular and may prove useful in other settings and in co mbination with other forms of asthma education.