INFLUENCE OF ASTHMA COMMUNICATION INTERVENTION ON THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Background of the Study: Asthma is a heterogeneous chronic inflammatory disease that affects airways causing respiratory symptoms including wheeze, breathlessness, chest tightness, and cough. Asthma is a long-term respiratory condition, in which the airways may unexpectedly and suddenly narrow, often in response to an allergen, cold air, exercise, or emotional stress. Symptoms may include wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing. Asthma attack is an incident wherein a person who suffers intermittent experiences bronchoconstriction undergoes such an experience, usually with a sudden onset. In an asthma attack, airway swells and narrow which reduces the airflow passage in and out of lungs. It can cause shortage of breath, difficult of breathing, coughing, wheezing and producing extra mucus. Asthma can be triggered by various factors such as allergen, infection, air pollution, food, some medications, psychology factors, cold air, inappropriate exercises and hyperventilation. As a major non communicable diseases, according to WHO statistics in 2019, there were 262 million people living with asthma and there were 461,000 deaths due to asthma. According to research conducted by The International Study of Asthma and Allergies (I.S.A.A.C, 2010), 12.8% of children and adults Sub-Sahara Africa were discovered to be asthmatic.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that can have varying effects on the quality of life of sufferers. The patho-physiology of asthma involves a circular progression of physical manifestations due to airflow obstruction as a result of inflammation of the airways. The types of inflammation differ between patients, even if the same mechanisms (such as allergy) are involved.

Patients now respond differently to a variety of stimuli or, even, the same stimuli at different times. At the same time, the response to treatment can also vary greatly (Kemp in Zelda Antoinette, 2015).

Verbal and written tactics for influencing and empowering people, populations, and communities to make better decisions are included in health communication. When attempting to influence positive changes in attitudes and behaviors, health communication frequently incorporates elements of several theories and models. Social marketing, which entails the creation of initiatives and programs intended to alter behavior, has a connection to health communication.