Asthma is a chronic condition that affects 5-10% or about 4 million children in the U.S. It is responsible for more school absences, ER visits, and hospital admissions than any other pediatric chronic disease. Rising morbidity and mortality rates are of particular concern in minority children. This study will address a serious knowledge deficit about self-care management of asthma in African-American children, by testing the effect of a school-based asthma intervention program on the health and self-care of 8-12 year old inner city students. Relationships in Orem's Self-Care Deficit Theory of Nursing also will be addressed. It is hypothesized that (a) self-care capabilities (self-esteem, self-efficacy, knowledge, skill and motivation for self-care and asthma knowledge), asthma self-care practices and health outcomes will be significantly better at 2 weeks, 5 months, and 12 months after participation in an asthma education intervention (Open Airways) for a cohort attending a school with a school-based health center (SBHC) (Group A) than for a similar cohort without a SBHC (Group C); (b) self-care capabilities, asthma self-care practices, and health outcomes will be significantly better at 2 weeks, 5 months, and 12 months after participation in an asthma intervention (Open Airways & PNP visits) for a cohort attending a SBHC-school (Group A) than for a similar cohort in a SBHC-school (Group B) waiting to begin the program; (c) that the asthma intervention (Open Airways & PNP visits) will lead to sustained improvements in asthma knowledge, self-care capabilities, asthma self-care practices, and health outcomes over time; (d) age, gender, self-care capabilities, and self-care practices will together predict significantly more variance in health outcomes than any will alone. Data from 120-200 students from 8 schools will be obtained using measures of demographics, self-care capabilities, asthma self-care practices, and health. MANCOVA and multiple regression analyses will be used to test hypotheses.
| Velsor-Friedrich, Barbara; Pigott, Theresa; Srof, Brenda (2005) A practitioner-based asthma intervention program with African American inner-city school children. J Pediatr Health Care 19:163-71 |
