Objectives: The objectives of this study were to (1) describe asthma knowledge, control, and administration techniques in Hispanic caregivers of pediatric asthma patients in primary care clinics and (2) determine the association between asthma knowledge and control.

Methods: A pilot, cross-sectional study was conducted by administering a survey to Spanish-speaking primary caregivers of children under 12 years old with a current diagnosis of asthma. The survey contained: demographic questions (8 items), a modified version of the Asthma Control Test (ACT, 5 self-assessment items, 5-point, Likert-type scale), knowledge (21 items, correct/incorrect response), and inhaler use (1 item, rank ordering steps for using inhaler). Descriptive statistics were performed for all items, and a Pearson correlation analysis was utilized to assess the association between asthma knowledge and control in SPSS v. 22.0 (Armonk, NY), with α =0.05.

Results: Of the 12 caregivers, who completed the survey, all were parents of the patients. Seven patients (58%) had controlled asthma. On the asthma knowledge portion of the survey, three caregivers of these patients (25%) scored over 75%, three (25%) scored under 50%, and six (50%) scored between 50-75%. There was a statistically-significant, positive correlation between asthma knowledge and asthma control (r=0.668, p=0.017). No caregivers were able to correctly order the eight step sequence of using an inhaler.

Conclusion: A positive correlation between asthma knowledge and asthma control was found in caregivers of asthmatic pediatric patients. Inhaler technique, recognition of asthma triggers, and understanding situations necessitating a physician visit were areas in which participants showed a knowledge deficiency.