Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents of asthmatic children in Cape Town

To obtain information useful to asthma care in a relatively poor, high asth ma prevalence population, a focus group study was undertaken with 72 parent s of children with asthma or recurrent wheezing. There was a reasonable lev el of understanding of the causes of asthma, although variable acceptance o f the diagnosis. Willingness to undertake home management of acute episodes and environmental control measures was high. Reported treatment was charac terized by reliance on syrups, use of home remedies, resistance to inhaled therapy, and relatively low compliance with prescribed treatment. There was agreement on the poor level of service offered by doctors and public secto r clinics. Asthma education in this population needs to build on what paren ts know and accept, but stress the relative safety of inhaled therapy, the need for maintenance therapy, and the value of pre-exercise prophylaxis, ho use dust mite control, and smoking cessation. There is an urgent need to im prove the quality of asthma care provided by public sector clinics.