Rural Children with Asthma: Impact of a Parent and Child Asthma Education Program |
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Authors: | Arlene Butz Luu Pham LaPricia Lewis Cassis Lewis Kim Hill Jennifer Walker |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Nursing, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA;2. School of Medicine Division of General Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA;3. The Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
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Abstract: | The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an asthma educational intervention in improving asthma knowledge, self-efficacy, and quality of life in rural families. Children 6 to 12 years of age (62% male, 56% white, and 22% Medicaid) with persistent asthma (61%) were recruited from rural elementary schools and randomized into the control standard asthma education (CON) group or an interactive educational intervention (INT) group geared toward rural families.Parent/caregiver and child asthma knowledge, self-efficacy, and quality of life were assessed at baseline and at 10 months post enrollment. Despite high frequency of symptom reports, only 18% children reported an emergency department visit in the prior 6 months. Significant improvement in asthma knowledge was noted for INT parents and young INT children at follow-up (Parent: CON = 16.3; INT = 17.5, p < 0.001; Young children: CON = 10.8, INT = 12.45, p < 0.001). Child self-efficacy significantly increased in the INT group at follow-up; however, there was no significant difference in parent self-efficacy or parent and child quality of life at follow-up. Asthma symptom reports were significantly lower for the INT group at follow-up. For young rural children, an interactive asthma education intervention was associated with increased asthma knowledge and self-efficacy, decreased symptom reports, but not increased quality of life. |
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Keywords: | asthma education self-efficacy quality of life rural children |
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