Asthma Self-Management For Adolescents
Condition: Asthma
MeSH terms: Asthma
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2

Summary: 
      The goal of this study is to help adolescents with asthma learn to control their illness and
      live without restrictions. We hypothesize that an intensive school-based asthma education
      program for students in 9th and 10th grade who have persistent asthma, together with asthma
      education for their primary care physicians, will improve the students' health status,
      quality of life, and ability to control their asthma through self-management.
    

Detailed description: 
      Five public high schools from areas in New York City with high asthma rates will be enrolled
      in the study. In each school, we will identify students with asthma using a brief,
      self-administered survey that asks questions about current symptoms of wheeze, persistent
      cough, chest tightness, night waking, and past diagnosis of asthma. Eligible students will
      have the program explained to them individually. Caregivers of students who express interest
      in the program will be contacted to obtain written, informed consent. An equal number of
      students in each school will be randomly assigned to the immediate intervention group and to
      a control group that will receive the program 12 months later. Students assigned to the
      immediate intervention group will take part in three group workshops to learn about the
      chronic nature of asthma, how to control asthma by monitoring symptoms and using medicines
      consistently, and how to take preventive management steps using environmental control
      strategies and a written treatment plan from their physician as a guide for adjusting their
      medicines. They will also receive individual coaching by a health educator to assess how the
      students are doing and feeling, help them interpret their symptoms and responses to
      medication, and encourage them to take the next steps to control asthma. Before the visit we
      will have asthma specialist physicians on our staff make a telephone call to the student's
      physician to alert them that the student will make a visit, that the student will bring
      symptoms diaries, and to encourage the physician to review the diaries, prescribe according
      to NHLBI guidelines, and provide a written treatment plan. The intervention for each student
      will last three months. During the follow up year, no educational contact will be made with
      control group students, families, or physicians. Following completion of the study 12 months
      later, these students will be offered the same intervention provided to the immediate
      intervention group.
    

Intervention name(s): Patient education group; Wait list control group
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Patient education delivered to high school students with persistent asthma in group and individual sessions. Academic detailing was also provided to the students' primary care providers.; No intervention was provided for this group until the one year study period was completed, and then the patient education intervention was provided.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Asthma; Adolescents; Patient Education; Schools