Tailored Asthma Management for Urban Teens
Tailored Asthma Management for Urban Teens
The purpose of this project is to refine and further evaluate an online asthma management and
 education program for urban teenagers. This project is a continuation of Puff City I, a
 project piloting and evaluating a tailored, school-based, computerized asthma education
 program for urban teenagers. In this second phase of research, a new version of software
 (Puff City II) will be created that will target resistance to change and relapse, and using a
 tested, theory-based approach to student recruitment, conduct a randomized trial to test the
 efficacy of this new software.
BACKGROUND:

 Teenagers are among an age group that has seen dramatic increases in deaths from asthma. In
 Detroit, asthma death rates for teenagers are high relative to younger ages, despite a higher
 prevalence in the latter age group. Early studies suggest that inadequate asthma management
 plays a significant role in these grim statistics.

 DESIGN NARRATIVE:

 The study hypothesis is that students randomized to the intervention group will have lower
 asthma-related morbidity as determined by fewer emergency department visits and
 hospitalizations at the time of the 12-month follow-up. Based on a second hypothesis of
 better functional status among students randomized to the intervention group, secondary
 outcomes include fewer symptom-days, symptom-nights, school days missed, and days of
 restricted activity at the time of the 12-month follow-up. In addition, it is hypothesized
 that students in the intervention group will have higher scores on the Juniper Pediatric
 Quality of Life scale at 12 months. Finally, it is hypothesized that intervention students
 would exhibit positive changes in adherence behavior, having a rescue inhaler nearby, and
 smoking at the 12-month follow-up.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  A physician diagnosis of asthma AND recent asthma symptoms, health care utilization
 for asthma, and/or use of medication (or refills of medication) to alleviate asthma
 symptoms OR

 -  No physician diagnosis of asthma AND positive responses to items selected from the
 International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Children (ISAAC) survey AND asthma
 symptoms similar to those used in the Expert Panel II for classification of mild
 intermittent asthma

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Does not meet asthma symptom criteria