Children lead the way when it comes to asthma ...( The lessons learned in a school progra...),Health

The lessons learned in a school program that teaches elementary school children to manage their asthma appear to rub off on their parents, even when the parents are not directly involved with the program, according to a new study.

We believe that it is likely that the homework assignments and other communication initiated by the children played a significant role in changing caregiver behavior, suggesting that children who have received health education can in turn teach their parents about asthma and how to manage it, says David Evans, Ph.D., an associate professor at Columbia Universitys College of Physicians & Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health in New York.

A study by Evans and colleagues of 239 families showed that the parents of those asthmatic children who received special self-management training also made significant gains in helping their children manage the chronic condition compared with the parents of children who received no such training.

The study is published in the August issue of Health Education & Behavior.

The training program consisted of six 60-minute sessions that taught third-through fifth-graders new asthma management skills. The children learned to recognize symptoms and begin steps to manage them. The children also were given homework designed to initiate discussion with their parents about asthma management.

Previous studies of this curriculum have shown that the program, called "Open Airways for Schools," improved childrens ability to manage the asthma and also improved their quality of life. The parents also reported that children had fewer symptoms after completing the program.

Most studies of the impact of health education on the management of chronic childhood illness have focused on the primary adult caregiver as the key figure in changing family health behavior. This study, however, examines the opposite question: to what extent do children initiate health communications
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Contact: Annie Bayne
as862@columbia.edu
212-305-9746
Center for the Advancement of Health
14-Jul-2001