title: Beating asthma: a community-based asthma education initiative.
abstract: Beating Asthma is a community-based educational intervention designed to empower people with asthma by providing them with information about their pulmonary disease. The project consists of a series of three lectures delivered in a single 2-hour evening program by a pulmonologist, a health educator, and a licensed clinical psychologist. Surveys were distributed to participants before and after the program to assess general knowledge of asthma, the disease's pathophysiology, and asthma-management skills. Seventy-eight (77%) of the 101 families participating in the event completed both questionnaires. Regression model analysis of survey results showed that participants with the lowest scores before intervention achieved the greatest gains after intervention (P<.001). Analysis of the three topic areas revealed that only the subscore for disease management differed significantly from zero (P<.001). The authors assess the quality and usefulness of the survey instrument and the lecture content for future use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine at Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2265 Kraft Dr, Blacksburg, VA 24060-6360, USA. scariati@vcom.vt.edu
authors.forename: Paula D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Scariati
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roberge
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dye
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011336:Probability; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States