Comparative Effectiveness on Cognitive Asthma Outcomes of the SHARP Academic Asthma Health Education and Counseling Program and a Non-Academic Program.

Asthma morbidity and mortality is higher among older school-age children and early adolescents than other age groups across the lifespan. NIH recommended expanding asthma education to schools and community settings to meet cognitive outcomes that have an impact on morbidity and mortality. Guided by the acceptance of asthma model, an evidence-guided, comprehensive school-based academic health education and counseling program, Staying Healthy-Asthma Responsible & Prepared™ (SHARP), was developed. The program complements existing school curricula by integrating biology, psychology, and sociology content with related spelling, math, and reading and writing assignments. Feasibility, benefits, and efficacy have been established. We compared the effectiveness of SHARP to a non-academic program, Open Airways for Schools, in improving asthma knowledge and reasoning about symptom management. A two-group, cluster-randomized, single-blinded design was used with a sample of 205 students in grades 4-5 with asthma and their caregivers. Schools were matched prior to randomization. The unit of analysis was the student. Certified elementary school teachers delivered the programs during instructional time. Data were collected from student/caregiver dyads at baseline and at 1, 12, and 24 months after the intervention. In multilevel modeling, students enrolled in the academic SHARP program demonstrated significant (p< .001) improvement in asthma knowledge and reasoning over students enrolled in the non-academic program. Knowledge advantages were retained at 24 months. Findings support delivery in schools of the SHARP academic health education program for students with asthma.

Effectiveness of a school- and community-based academic asthma health education program on use of effective asthma self-care behaviors in older school-age students.

PURPOSE: The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of Staying Healthy-Asthma Responsible & Prepared, an academic asthma health education and counseling program, on fostering the use of effective asthma self-care behaviors. DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a phase III, two-group, cluster randomized, single-blinded, longitudinal design-guided study. Caregivers of 205 fourth- and fifth-grade students completed the asthma health behaviors survey at preintervention, and 1, 12, and 24 months postintervention. Analysis involved multilevel modeling. RESULTS: All students demonstrated improvement in episode management, risk reduction/prevention, and health promotion behaviors; Staying Healthy-Asthma Responsible & Prepared students demonstrated increased improvement in episode management and risk reduction/prevention behaviors. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Working with schoolteachers, nurses can improve the use of effective asthma self-care behaviors.