Growing asthma prevalence and hospitalization rates of preschool children (ages 3-5) signal a major public health problem that requires early intervention. Evidence of health disparities and unequal treatment among low-income, urban, minority preschoolers with asthma underscores the need to develop culturally sensitive asthma interventions in community-based programs, such as Head Start, that work with high risk preschool children and their families. All of the family caregivers and child care providers who work with preschoolers need to know how to prevent and manage asthma episodes, yet little is known about the informational needs of ethnic minority parents of preschoolers with asthma or child care providers in different settings. Because preschoolers must rely on caregivers in different settings to help them manage their asthma, an ecological approach to asthma management guides this study. Using a participatory action research methodology, the investigators will partner with parents who have preschoolers with asthma and are enrolled in Ramsey Action Program (RAP) Head Start programs in St. Paul, Minnesota and Head Start staff to develop an action plan to address parent- and staff-identified needs. The short-term goals of this pilot project are: 1) to determine the asthma information and resource needs of parents from ethnically diverse backgrounds and Head Start staff who care for preschoolers, and 2) to determine the feasibility of providing culturally sensitive, web-based asthma education to Head Start parents and staff by designing and evaluating a preliminary asthma information web site for Head Start based on identified needs. The long-term plan is to develop a multi-media, web-based asthma education program for parents and staff in urban and rural Head ? Start programs in Minnesota. ? ? ?
| Garwick, Ann W; Seppelt, Ann; Riesgraf, Michelle (2010) Addressing asthma management challenges in a multisite, urban Head Start program. Public Health Nurs 27:329-36 |
