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December 4, 2008Study shows school-based program enables children and adolescents to better manage chronic disease |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study has found that a school-based asthma education program conducted in the Oakland, California school district was shown to reduce symptoms and increase the number of days that children who suffered from asthma were able to go to school. Nearly 10% or 6.8 million children have asthma in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The problem is most prevalent in urban areas, where children's symptoms are typically worse. "This study demonstrates how schools can play an important role in the health and safety of children and adolescents coping with asthma," said Sheryl Magzamen, Ph.D., a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation® Health & Society Scholar at the University of Wisconsin and the lead author of the study. "We found that Kickin' Asthma is a good strategy for educating adolescents about their disease and helping them to take more control over it." The study found that Kickin' Asthma demonstrated measurable and significant improvements for asthma symptoms, correct medication usage, and reduction in asthma morbidity for urban adolescent students during the first three years of the program. The program gives students the information and tools to better take care of their asthma by dispelling myths about the disease, educating students on the triggers, and instructing them about when and how to take their medication. The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Controlling Asthma in American Cities Project, and supported, in part, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program.
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