| Respiratory therapists are providing care, case management, and educational services to an overwhelmingly diverse patient population. However, multiple barriers exist to the delivery of appropriate asthma education to hospital-based respiratory care practitioners, including parental literacy and socio-economic and psychological factors in parents' management of pediatric asthma. The perceptions of hospital-based respiratory therapists of these barriers experienced by caregivers when engaging in asthma education programs were examined through a quantitative ethnographic lens, guided by Bandura's social cognitive theory. In their investigation of behaviors, Prochaska, DiClemente, and Norcross (1992) justified the trans-theoretical model method for changing behavior responses (p. 1102). Fifty-six pediatric respiratory therapists participated in a modified questionnaire based on asthma barriers that consisted of 34 questions on a Likert-type scale. The asthma barrier questionnaire has been previously tested for its validity and reliability. Results suggested that respiratory care staff encounter daily barriers while performing their job duties. In light of these barriers, respiratory therapists often seek program changes within their organization. These program changes may include delivering asthma education to all patients admitted with respiratory distress syndrome, video on demand, and include more staff to teach the asthma education class. |
