Educational needs of people with COPD or asthma entering pulmonary rehabilitation and their significant others: A cross-sectional study

This study aimed to identify educational needs of people with COPD or asthma referred for pulmonary rehabilitation and their significant others. In this cross-sectional study, information needs were assessed by the Lung Information Needs Questionnaire. Learning styles were assessed with a multiple-choice question (visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic - multiple choices were possible). Psychological profiles were assessed by an instrument distinguishing four profiles: fighter, analyst, optimist or sensitive. 121 patients (57% female; age: 65 ± 10 years; 81% COPD) and 67 significant others (55% female; age: 61 ± 12 years) were included. Patients and their significant others had a variety of information needs. Patients and their significant others mostly preferred the aural (39% and 49%, respectively) and read/write learning styles (31% and 36%, respectively) as unimodal learners. 49% of patients and 51% of significant others preferred more than one learning style. Most prevalent psychological profiles were optimist in patients (36%) and fighter in significant others (59%). The identified variety in educational needs among people with COPD or asthma and their significant others underlines the importance of addressing this diversity of individual needs in education. Learners should have the opportunity to choose among a variety of topics and have access to multiple learning styles. Furthermore, educational interventions should consider to incorporate different communication strategies.