Booklet and Motivational Interviewing to Promote Self-efficacy in Parents/Caregivers of Children with Asthma: A Clinical Trial

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood which accounts for numerousannual hospitalizations due to a lack of management and proper management of the disease. Thus,this study aimed to evaluate the effect of using an educational booklet with or without combinationwith motivational interviewing (MI) on the self-efficacy of parents/caregivers in the control andmanagement of childhood asthma.Methods: A clinical trial was carried out with 86 parents/caregivers of children with asthma agedbetween 2 and 12 years who were followed up in primary health care units from March 2019 toDecember 2020. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: one of the groups read the bookletand the other read the booklet combined with the MI. The Brazilian version of the Self-Efficacy andTheir Child’s Level of Asthma Control scale was applied before and 30 days after the interventionfor assessment of self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and R 3.6.3 software. Pvalues lt;0.05 were considered significant.Results: There were 46 participants in the booklet group and 40 in the booklet and MI group. Bothgroups were effective in increasing total self-efficacy scores after the intervention (P lt;0.001). Nostatistically significant difference was found between the scores of the two groups (P=0.257).Conclusion: The educational booklet with or without combination with MI can increase the selfefficacyof parents/caregivers of children with asthma. The findings could be considered by healthcareproviders for the empowerment of caregivers of children with asthma in the control and managementof their children’s asthma.