Asthma Self-Management For Adolescents
Asthma Self-Management For Adolescents
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.
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.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  9th or 10th grade high school student

 -  diagnosed moderate to severe persistent asthma

 -  used physician prescribed asthma medicine in past 12 months

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  comorbidity with other diseases that affect lung function

 -  enrollment in special education classes for learning disabilities