Study shows improvements in asthma episode management and prevention behaviors in students who received a school and community based asthma health education and counseling program.
Summary: Effective asthma self-care behaviors are an important component of a successful asthma management plan for children and adolescents. To expand asthma self-care education beyond health offices and clinics, a team of nurse specialists and teachers developed a school- and community-based asthma health education and counseling program for elementary school students and their family caregivers. In a recent NINR-supported randomized clinical trial, researchers found that students who received the new program demonstrated increased improvement in episode management and risk reduction/prevention behaviors, compared with students who received a control program. These findings demonstrate that integrating an asthma education program into the regular school curriculum holds promise for improving asthma management among elementary school students.
Citation: Kintner EK, Cook G, Marti CN, Allen A, Stoddard D, Harmon P, Gomes M, Meeder L, Van Egeren LA. Effectiveness of a school- and community-based academic asthma health education program on use of effective asthma self-care behaviors in older school-aged students. J Spec Pediatr Nurs. 2015 Jan;20(1):62-75. PMID: 25443867