Keeping Students with Asthma Physically Active

Background: The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has an estimated 63,000 students with asthma. A needs assessment identified physical education (PE) teachers as needing additional training on how to engage students with asthma in physical activity. Purpose: To improve the ability of PE teachers to recognize asthma triggers and symptoms, and improve asthma management To facilitate full access to PE for all students Significance: The many students with asthma often do not have full access to PE; leading to lower self-esteem, obesity and worsening of asthma symptoms. PE teachers need additional training on how to best meet the needs of these students. Methodology: The LAUSD Nursing Services Asthma Program and the American Lung Association piloted the CDC/DASH Asthma Friendly Schools Initiative. PE Department Chairs and over 800 PE teachers were trained in the basic physiology, identification and management of asthma (module 1) and actionable strategies to effectively deal with asthma scenarios at school (module 2). A pre-post survey measured changes in knowledge, attitudes and potential behaviors. Findings/Results: PE Teachers showed: • 12% increase in their ability to identify asthma symptoms • 7% increase in number who identified asthma as chronic disease controllable with medication • 23% increase in number “very” comfortable identifying asthma triggers • 24% increase in number “very” comfortable handling an asthma episode Conclusions/Recommendations: Improvements in knowledge and confidence levels may be the first steps for PE teachers to provide full access to PE curriculum to students with asthma.