Education by a nurse in the care about children with allergic diseases

Allergy may be called a disease of the century and we rank it among civilization diseases. In the mid 20th century allergy was confirmed to one of a hundred inhabitants, and every fifth inhabitant of the Republic is allergic nowadays. Unfortunately more and more children suffer from this disease. To be able to understand the disease better and to cope with that a human needs as much information as possible. Education by nurses plays a key role in this sphere. Educational activities of nurses form an inseparable part of successful allergy treatment. The Thesis examines whether education and approach of a nurse to parents and children influences their view of and approach to the disease. The first aim of the thesis was to find how parents are informed about their child{\crq}s disease {--} allergy {--} by a nurse and what particular effect the disease has on their family. The second aim of the thesis was to find out how a child patient understands his/her problem and how he/she is educated in the treatment regime by a nurse. The theoretical part deals with the history of allergy and the immune system, types of allergies, prevention, their treatment, education by a nurse and communication. The practical part analyses information from a research. Quantitative research in the form of two questionnaires was chosen for the investigation. The first one was designed for parents accompanying their children to allergy clinics and the other one for children being treated for some kind of allergy. The research was performed at allergy clinics in Písek and Strakonice between the end of November 2009 and the end of March 2010, and 70 respondents participated in both the questionnaires. The aims of the Thesis were met, the hypotheses confirmed. The results confirmed the hypotheses that parents and children understand their diseases, they know the prevention and treatment of the disease thanks to education by a nurse