Breaking the access barrier: evaluating an asthma center's efforts to provide education to children with asthma in schools.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate an asthma education program for children with asthma that is delivered in their school by certified asthma educators from a local hospital-based asthma center.


METHODS
Randomized controlled trial.


METHODS
Twenty-six elementary schools located in a suburb of Toronto.


METHODS
A total of 256 children in grades 2 to 5 with asthma and their parents were randomized to control and experimental groups.


METHODS
Children in the experimental group received the "Roaring Adventures of Puff" asthma education program over the course of six weekly 1-h sessions. Those in the control group continued receiving usual care.


RESULTS
Data collection involved measuring asthma quality of life, self-efficacy for managing asthma, school absenteeism, days of interrupted activity, health services use, and parental loss of time from work. Quality of life and self-efficacy data were collected from the children at baseline and 2 months. Telephone parental interviews conducted over 1 year were used to collect data on the remaining variables. Unpaired t test, analysis of variance, and chi2 test were used to determine whether differences existed between the groups. The results are reported as the mean +/- SD. The experimental group demonstrated higher scores than the control group for self-efficacy (3.6 +/- 0.7 vs 3.8 +/- 0.9, respectively; p < 0.05) and quality of life (5.0 +/- 1.4 vs 5.5 +/- 1.4, respectively; p < 0.05). At 1 year, the experimental group demonstrated fewer mean urgent health-care visits (2.5 +/- 2.5 vs 1.7 +/- 1.9 visits per year, respectively; p < 0.01), days of missed school (4.3 +/- 5.7 vs 3.0 +/- 4.4 days per year, respectively; p > 0.05), and days of interrupted activity (9.1 +/- 10.5 vs 6.2 +/- 7.3 days per year; p < 0.01) related to asthma than the control group. There were no differences between the groups for parental work absenteeism or scheduled asthma visits.


CONCLUSIONS
Providing an asthma education program to children in their school can significantly improve quality of life and reduce the burden of childhood asthma.
Cicutto
Lisa
L
Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 50 St. George St, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H4 Canada. lisa.cicutto@utoronto.ca
Murphy
Sue
S
Coutts
Debbie
D
O'Rourke
Janet
J
Lang
Gail
G
Chapman
Cori
C
Coates
Pamela
P
D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009864:Ontario; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011788:Quality of Life; D012574:Schools; D012648:Self Care; D013689:Telephone