The purpose of this study is to apply a self-management system to a population of adults with asthma. Components of the system, Living with Asthma, have been thoroughly tested with asthmatic children, and, in pilot studies, with adults afflicted by the disorder.
Specific aims of the proposed investigation are to: a) thoroughly test these proven components with 120 adults afflicted with asthma; and b) to carefully test and evaluate the results of application of the system with a number of dependent measures, including paper-and-pencil instruments, pulmonary physiology measures, activity restriction changes, medication scores, severity of attack measures, and socioeconomic changes. A number of valid and reliable measures, many of which we developed especially for use with asthmatic adults will be used. The basic design will be a randomized control group design where patients with a confirmed diagnosis of asthma will be randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. All participants, however, will receive self-management training. All subjects will be followed for at least one year to determine the effectiveness of the program over time. The data will be analyzed by appropriate parametric statistical procedures. At the conclusion of the investigation, all data will be reported so that it may effectively assist physicians to teach self-management skills to their patients as a practical and cost- effective way to control asthma.
