INFLUENCING ASTHMA CARE BY CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract): Asthma affects approximately 4.2 million children under 18 years of age - it is the most common chronic illness of childhood. Preventive anti-inflammatory therapy and inhaled beta2 agonists are now used earlier in the management plan to reduce the frequency and severity of symptom occurrence. In spite of these treatment advances, asthma has increased among children under 18 years from 2.7 million affected in 1988 to 4.2 million in 1995. Factors that may contribute to rising asthma prevalence include lack of knowledge on the part of parents and children which can result in ineffective asthma management behaviors. The long-term objective to reduce asthma morbility in children. The purpose of the study is to: 1) Determine the effect of an asthma health education program for parents and their school-age children on the children s asthma morbidity (asthma illness days, ED visits, school absences, hospital stays). 2) Evaluate changes in parents' and children s management behaviors (asthma management behaviors, environmental management strategies) after being provided with an asthma health education program. A pilot intervention study is proposed with a convenience sample of predominantly low-income Mexican American, African American, and Anglo American families with asthmatic school-age children in 3rd to 5th grades. The asthma health education program is designed to increase children's and parents knowledge and management of asthma. Children participate in 6 bi-weekly classes over 3 weeks during school hours, followed by one review class six months later. Parent education materials will be mailed to the home at the end of year-1. Data will be gathered over 2 years to determine the effectiveness of the intervention on reducing asthma morbidity, and promoting asthma knowledge and management behaviors by comparing pre-and post-intervention data.