title: Innovative asthma health promotion by rural community pharmacists: a feasibility study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Asthma awareness in a rural community and the involvement of the community pharmacist in proactive health promotion.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between September 2002 and May 2003, seven community pharmacists from Orange, a rural town in New South Wales, were trained to provide two asthma outreach programs: one targeting adolescents in high schools (Year 11 students) using Triple A training; and a public forum on asthma for the wider community.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant increase in the mean asthma knowledge scores of Year 11 students in each high school after Triple A training. From the multivariate analysis, although there was a significant increase in mean asthma knowledge scores over time (F=101.09, df=1, p<0.001), there were no differences between high schools (F=2.79, df=2, p>0.05). There was a significant increase in the proportion of asthma-related pharmacy visits involving requests for information on asthma and on asthma devices at the four different time points.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provided a unique opportunity for community pharmacists to increase asthma awareness in a rural setting. The study demonstrated that it is feasible for rural community pharmacists to become involved in proactive health promotion and effectively provide asthma outreach programs.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Practice Research, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney, New South Wales. vicky@pharm.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: Vicky
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kritikos
authors.forename: Bandana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.forename: Sinthia Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Bosnic-Anticevich
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krass
authors.forename: Smita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Armour
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*