EFFECT OF SELF-REGULATORY EDUCATION ON WOMEN WITH ASTHMA

在美国，超过一半的成人哮喘患者是女性。女性哮喘患病率似乎在增加，这一群体的发病率和死亡率明显高于男性。最近的研究指出，女性对哮喘的管理具有独特的特点，这可能归因于性别。例如，这些因素包括与荷尔蒙周期有关的因素(例如月经、怀孕、更年期)和社会角色(例如使人暴露在环境触发因素下的家务、照顾儿童和干扰哮喘管理的亲属等)。到目前为止，还没有文献报道专门为哮喘妇女设计的经过严格评估的干预措施。这项拟议的研究将评估一项针对512名患有哮喘的女性的哮喘教育计划，该研究效仿了一项针对心脏病女性的成功干预措施，表明该干预措施可以改善身体和心理社会功能。这项研究将评估一项创新的哮喘管理计划的影响，该计划基于自我调节原则，并针对哮喘女性的独特需求而量身定做。预计与随机分配到治疗组的妇女相比，治疗组出现的与性别有关的哮喘管理问题更少，身体功能水平更高，缺勤天数更少，对生活质量的满意度更高，症状更少，对卫生服务的使用更少。

More than half of the adults with asthma in the US are female. Prevalence of asthma in women appears to be increasing, and morbidity and mortality rates for this group are significantly higher than rates for men. Recent studies point to unique features in women's management of asthma potentially attributable to gender. These include, for example, factors associated with hormonal cycles, (e.g. menses, pregnancy, menopause) and social roles (e.g. household tasks exposing one to environmental triggers, caregiving to children and relatives interfering with asthma management etc.) To date, no rigorously evaluated intervention expressly designed for women with asthma has been reported in the literature. The proposed study will evaluate an asthma education program in a study of 512 women with asthma modeled on a successful intervention for women with heart disease shown to improve physical and psychosocial functioning. The study will assess the impact of an innovative asthma management program based on principles of self- regulation and tailored to unique needs of women with asthma. It is expected that when compared to women randomly assigned to the treatment group will exhibit fewer gender-related asthma management problems, higher levels of physical functioning, fewer days of missed work, increased satisfaction with their quality of life, less frequent symptoms, and reduced use of health services.