Effectiveness of a school-based academic asthma health education and counseling program on fostering acceptance of asthma in older school-age students with asthma.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the academic asthma education and counseling Staying Healthy-Asthma Responsible and Prepared™ (SHARP) program on fostering psychosocial acceptance of asthma. DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a phase III, two-group, cluster-randomized, single-blinded, longitudinal study. Students from grades 4 and 5 (N = 205) with asthma and their caregivers completed surveys at pre-intervention and at 1-, 12-, and 24-months post-intervention. Analysis involved multilevel modeling.
RESULTS: All students demonstrated significant improvement in aspects of acceptance; students in SHARP demonstrated significant improvement in openness to sharing and connectedness with teachers over students in the control condition. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The SHARP program offers a well-tested, effective program for psychosocial acceptance of asthma, which is welcomed by schools.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes