The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #55430

Sally Fontamillas Shaw, DrPH¹, David T. Dyjack, CIH², Helen Hopp Marshak, PhD³, and Christine M. Neish, PhD³. (1) UCLA Health & Media Research Group, UCLA, Community Health Sciences 26-081, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, (909) 899-8124, sfshaw@ucla.edu, (2) Department of Environmental Health, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Nichol Hall Room 1202, Loma Linda, CA 92350, (3) Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Department of Health Education and Promotion, Nichol Hall Room 1511, Loma Linda, CA 92350

Asthma education interventions primarily target young children and adults. The social cognitive theory was used to design a classroom-based asthma education curriculum and to determine if the curriculum would improve asthma knowledge and attitudes among 10th grade students, as well as improve the quality of life and self-efficacy among asthmatic students. The sample consisted of 122 10th grade health academy students. Twenty-four (20%) reported having doctor-diagnosed asthma. The research was based on a nonequivalent control group design with delayed intervention (three-week delay) in one group. Self-administered questionnaires measured asthma knowledge, attitudes, quality of life, and self-efficacy at pre-intervention and at one week, three weeks, and six weeks post-intervention. Asthma knowledge mean scores (from 44%, SD =14.21 to 62%, SD = 12.84; p £ 0.001) and self-efficacy mean scores (from 4.20, SD = 0.47 to 4.43, SD = 0.30; p £ 0.001) significantly improved for students who received the intervention. Most students held favorable attitudes towards asthmatics before the intervention, with a slight decrease in positive attitudes after the intervention. There were also slight, nonsignificant improvements in quality of life among asthmatic students. This study demonstrated that the asthma curriculum improved knowledge among asthmatic and nonasthmatic students, and on self-efficacy among the asthmatic students, and that asthma education, based on a theoretical framework, can be effectively incorporated into a traditional high school curriculum.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the negative impact of asthma on children and adolescents.
• Describe the methods used to test the effects of a classroom-based asthma education intervention on asthma knowledge, attitudes, quality of life, and self-efficacy among asthmatic high school students and their non-asthmatic peers.
• Discuss the short-term and long-term effects of the asthma education intervention on asthma knowledge, attitudes, quality of life, and self-efficacy among asthmatic high school students and their non-asthmatic peers.
• Assess the involvement of school nurses, community organizations and physicians in the implementation of a classroom-based asthma education intervention.

Keywords: Asthma, School-Based Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.