title: Educational and exercise programs for asthmatic children.
abstract: We designed programs to teach appropriate exercises to asthmatic children and to educate their parents about their special needs. Each of 11 programs over a six-year period included a weekly two-hour session for four weeks. Lectures for parents dealt with the etiology and precipitating events of asthma, environmental control and drug therapy, family interaction with a psychiatrist, and hyposensitization therapy and food allergy. The 59 children, aged 4 to 13, played group games, learned breathing exercises, and were assisted by their parents in postural drainage. School absences decreased in 59%, emergency room visits decreased in 70%, medication usage decreased in 54%, and the number of attacks decreased in 70%. Greater understanding of asthma by both parents and children improved the quality of life and lessened the severity of the disease.
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001945:Breathing Exercises; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012801:Sibling Relations