Improving childhood asthma outcomes in East Harlem: the East Harlem Asthma Center of Excellence's Asthma Counselor Program

Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of the Asthma Counselor Program, a program of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, designed to improve asthma outcomes among children. Methods We used a pre-post study design among children who enrolled in the program. We included self-reported outcome measures by comparing the previous 12 months (captured at intake) to the 12 months following program enrollment. To calculate the 12 months after enrollment, we added the number of outcome events reported at each follow-up session, which are conducted approximately three months apart, to compute 12-month (or "year-end") post-enrollment outcomes. Results We enrolled 136 children during the study period (2018); 85 children remained in the program for 12 months and 51 became lost-to-follow-up. Among those who remained in the program, at the "year-end" session, there were statistically significant reductions in the mean number of asthma-related unscheduled healthcare appointments or urgent-care visits (73%), uses of prednisone (65%), asthma-related school absences (60%), asthma-related ED visits (57%), and asthma-related hospitalizations (50%). Conclusions Twelve months after children enrolled in the program, they had significantly improved asthma outcomes. Our findings, along with results from similar studies, support multicomponent interventions, especially those led by masters-level social workers.