Asthma education taught by physical education teachers at grade schools: A randomised cluster trial.
OBJECTIVE
Assess whether the Asthma, Sport and Health (ASAH) programme taught by teachers improves asthmatics' quality of life, asthma knowledge, and reduces school absenteeism.


METHODS
Randomised cluster trial parallel group.


METHODS
2293 students (203 asthmatic) in the Intervention School group (IS) and 2214 in the Comparison School (CS) (224 asthmatic) belonging to primary school.


METHODS
Implementation of the educational programme "Asthma, Sport and Health" at grade schools, taught by physical education teachers.


RESULTS
Quality of life according to the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ).


RESULTS
Asthma knowledge, asthma control, school absenteeism.


RESULTS
After implementing the programme in the IS group, global quality of life improved significantly (p<0.001) as did their domains, symptoms (p<0.001), emotional function (p<0.001) and activity limitations (p<0.01), while in the CS group improvement was seen in global life quality (p<0.01) without any significant changes in the domains for emotional function and activity limitations. Asthma knowledge only increased in IS, among asthmatic students from 16.51 (CI 95% 16.04-16.98) to 18.16 (CI 95% 17.69-18.62) (p<0.001) and students without asthma from 15.49 (CI95% 15.36-15.63) to 17.50 (CI95% 17.36-17.64) (p<0.001). The multiple regression analysis showed that quality of life and its domains depend on asthma knowledge and above all, having well-controlled asthma. We found no decrease in school absenteeism.


CONCLUSIONS
The ASAH programme improved certain quality of life aspects regarding asthma (emotional function and limitation of activities) and asthma knowledge, but it failed to reduce school absenteeism NCT01607749.
University of Sevilla, La Candelaria Medical Center, Spain. Electronic address: mpraenac@gmail.com.
M
M
Praena-Crespo
Pablo de Olavide University, Statistics Department, Sevilla, Spain.
N
N
Aquino-Llinares
Pablo de Olavide University, Physical Education & Sports Department, Sevilla, Spain.
J C
JC
Fernández-Truan
Andalusian Regional Ministry of Education, Sevilla, Spain.
L
L
Castro-Gómez
Andalusian Health Care Service, San Jerónimo Medical Center, Sevilla, Spain.
C
C
Segovia-Ferrera
D000041:Absenteeism; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D000070777:School Teachers; D012574:Schools; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
Asthma education; Asthma knowledge; Clinical trial; Quality of life; School