Jiaci

Practitioner's Corner

J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2019; Vol. 29(5): 378-398

What Physical Education Teachers Know About

Asthma: Impact of a Training Course

Couto M

, Marques J

, Silva D

, Paiva M

, Jacinto T

5,6

, Câmara R

Immunoallergology – José de Mello Saúde, Portugal

Imunoalergologia – Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central,

Lisboa, Portugal

Serviço de Imunoalergologia – Centro Hospitalar São João,

Porto, Portugal

Serviço de Imunoalergologia Dona Estefânia, Lisboa, Portugal

Porto Health School, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto,

Portugal

CINTESIS, Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto, Porto,

Portugal

Unidade de Imunoalergologia, Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça,

SESARAM EPE, Funchal, Portugal

J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2019; Vol. 29(5): 392-394

doi: 10.18176/jiaci.0413

Key words:

Asthma. Education. Exercise. School. Teachers.

Palabras clave:

Asma. Educación. Ejercicio. Escuela. Profesores.

Given the current prevalence of asthma in developed

countries, there are likely to be at least 2 or 3 asthmatic

children in most classes. However, few teachers have received

training on how to manage the disease [1,2]. A previous

study in Portugal showed teacher knowledge of asthma

to be deficient [3]. Asthma is particularly challenging for

physical education (PE) teachers, because they must motivate

asthmatic students and instruct them on how to participate in

physical activities, which may prove to be a powerful trigger

of asthma [4]. Therefore, it is essential that PE teachers have

appropriate knowledge of exercise-induced asthma. Training

can improve teachers’ knowledge of the disease, thus leaving

them more prepared to manage asthmatic students [5]. We

aimed to assess PE teachers’ knowledge of asthma and to

evaluate the effects of a training course.

During 2015, the Interest Group of Allergy, Asthma and

Sports of the Portuguese Society of Allergy and Clinical

Immunology provided PE teachers with 5 modules of a course

entitled “Allergic Diseases in Sports”. The course, the program,

and the speakers were approved by the National Scientific and

Pedagogic Committee of Education, and accreditation was

granted. Each module comprised theoretical and practical areas

and took 16 hours over 2 consecutive days. The program also

included lessons on rhinitis, anaphylaxis, and urticaria. The

5 modules were repeated in 5 different regions of Portugal

(Ponta Delgada, Coimbra, Lisboa, Madeira, and Porto). All

modules had exactly the same contents, and the presentations

previously prepared by the speakers remained unchanged

throughout the program. The course was free of charge.

We developed a 20-item self-administered questionnaire

based on prior existing asthma knowledge questionnaires

(Supplementary Material) [2,3]. Each question had a score

of 1 (maximum total score, 20). The questionnaire included 4

different categories of questions: 6 questions related to general

knowledge of the disease, 3 questions related to common

beliefs, 4 questions related to asthma triggers, and 7 questions

related to treatment and prevention of asthma. Additionally,

there were 3 questions regarding personal and/or family history

of asthma and previous contact with asthmatic children. Before

starting the lessons, the attendees were asked to complete

the questionnaire, which was anonymous and coded. The

participants were asked to memorize the code, and, at the end

of the course, the same questionnaire was filled in and coded

to pair for statistical analysis.

Categorical variables are expressed as absolute values (%)

and continuous variables as mean (SD). The McNemar test

was used to assess changes between baseline and after the

intervention. The analyses were performed with IBM SPSS

Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0 (IBM Corp).

Figure.

Percentage of correct answers before and after the course.

100

Q11

Q16

Q13

Q18

Q12

Q17

Q10

Q15

Q14

Q19 Q20

Before

After

392

Correct Answers, %

Question