Asthma, a chronic respiratory disease, affects 7.1 million children and adolescents under the age of 18. When children and teens are unable to manage their disease, it can compromise their physical, academic, and social development. The potential negative impacts of asthma on a child's development make it vital to identify effective, evidence-based asthma education programs to promote the well-being of children and youth. Child Trends' latest brief, What Works for Asthma Education Programs: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Social Programs and Interventions for Children, reviews 17 random assignment experimental evaluations of asthma education programs.
Overall, 13 of the 17 programs reviewed had a positive impact on at least one child/adolescent outcome area, three programs had mixed results and one program was found not to work. This review suggests that successful programs aimed at improving self-management or physical outcomes were school or clinic-based, while successful programs aimed at improving medical outcomes were home-based. Computer-based asthma education programs were associated with improvements in self-management, physical, and medical outcomes for school-age children. Further research from experimentally-evaluated studies could help clinicians and policy makers assess what types of asthma education programs are most successful and would enable millions of children with asthma to live healthy and successful lives.
Programs were identified by searching LINKS (Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully), Child Trends' online database of rigorously-evaluated social interventions for children and youth.
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