title: Development and evaluation of a generic education program for chronic diseases in childhood.
abstract: To support families with a chronically ill child, a modular curriculum and new healthcare structures (trainer education, quality management) for a group self-management program (ModuS) were developed. ModuS focuses on common psychosocial aspects of chronic conditions and comprises generic and disease-specific modules. A pilot test was conducted for asthma by comparing ModuS with an established asthma-specific education program (CAE).
  
  
  
  Under routine care conditions, 491 children (6-17 years) with asthma and their parents participated in a multi-center prospective study (265 ModuS; 226 CAE). Families' program satisfaction, disease-specific knowledge, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), life satisfaction, and burden of disease were assessed before, directly following and six weeks after participation.
  
  
  
  The families were highly satisfied with the program. CAE and ModuS were associated with improved disease-specific knowledge, childreńs HRQoL and life satisfaction and decreased the families' burden. This demonstrates comparability of existing care with the modular approach.
  
  
  
  The ModuS approach offers a structure for effective patient education programs aiming to improve self-management. As it focused on the similarities of chronic conditions, it provides the opportunity to establish education programs for a wide range of chronic childhood diseases.
  
  
  
  ModuS facilitates the development of new patient education programs.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Medical Psychology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: Ernst.gundula@mh-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Gundula
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pediatrics, Luebeck University, Luebeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Menrath
authors.affiliation: Dept. Medical Psychology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Luebeck University, Luebeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eisemann
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pediatric Pulmonology and Immunology, Charité, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Staab
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pediatrics, Luebeck University, Luebeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Thyen
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital, Osnabrueck, Germany.
authors.forename: Ruediger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Szczepanski
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Children; Chronic disease; Generic; Modular education; Patient education