title: Telephone-based environmental control interventions in asthmatic patients: what are patients willing to do?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Environmental control education is recommended for allergic patients with persistent asthma, but patients may not be willing to comply with recommendations. In a prior study from our group, only 24% of patients reported making any recommended environmental changes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine what environmental changes allergic asthmatic patients say they would be willing to make and what changes they actually make.
  
  
  METHODS
  Asthmatic patients with known perennial aeroallergen sensitization were asked by telephone to rate on a 1- to 5-point Likert scale their willingness to make specific environmental changes. Items with mean scores of 3 or higher were used to formulate a practical set of recommendations to be given to patients in stage 2 of the study. Stage 2 patients were given the advice formulated in stage 1 and then telephoned 2 months later to see what changes they actually made.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stage 1 patients (n = 60) were willing to institute 14 of the 18 proposed allergen-specific recommendations. Of 36 stage 2 patients who were allergic to mite, mold, and/or dander, 29 (80.6%) reported that they complied with at least 1 of the recommendations made in this study. Patients who owned their own home were significantly (P < .05) more likely (91.3%) to make at least 1 change than patients who rented their home (63.6%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pending additional information, we suggest that environmental control recommendations for mite, mold, and dander emphasize those used in this study because they appear to be practical for a substantial proportion of patients, especially if they own their home.
authors: Department of Allergy, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Diego, California 92111, USA. michael.x.schatz@kp.org
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Schatz
authors: Robert S
authors: RS
authors: Zeiger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D061345:Early Medical Intervention / Q000379:methods; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens