Effective partnerships between parents and schools in students asthma management

Introduction: Asthma is a major health care problem among children. Given that children spend an average of five hours in school they should be taught asthma self- management skills. In an elementary school of 586 students and one school nurse serving one other county school, 13% (n=75) had physician diagnosed asthma. The objective was to use the ALA In-School Asthma education program to addresses the asthma management in this population. Methods: Students in grades 3-5 were invited to participate in the program. Students were given a pre-post test on asthma management. Further, parents were followed-up with telephone interviews on perceptions to asthma irritants and triggers, risk factors in the homes, and effect of the intervention. Results: There was a significant difference (p=.00001) in management of asthma before and after the intervention. Prior to the program 62% knew when to take their medication compared to 88% post intervention. The majority could not tell what makes them wheeze at home (54%) and at school (62%) compared to 25% and 13% respectively after the intervention. Parents reported an improvement in their children's knowledge of asthma irritants and self management skills. Furthermore, 77% reported that their child's symptoms had improved after the intervention and 15% reported some changes at home following the intervention. Conclusion: The results showed that parents played a supportive role in the asthma intervention program. Whereas compliance to recommended asthma prevention strategies was low in parents, this observation shows that future programs should equally target both children and their parents.