Development, implementation and evaluation of a new adult asthma self-management program

The purpose of the research was to develop, implement, and evaluate a new adult asthma self-management program with a multidisciplinary perspective. Small groups of adults met for 2 hr for 7 consecutive weekly meetings. Participants were asked to practice asthma specific behaviors (including peak expiratory flow monitoring, avoidance/removal of asthma triggers, and controller medication adherence) and general lifestyle behaviors (including drinking water, practicing relaxation, washing hands, and exercising). Learner-centered teaching techniques such as interactive communication and social support were utilized to help participants practice self-management behaviors including problem-solving and goal-setting. Paired sample t-tests included statistically significant improvements in asthma knowledge, asthma specific quality of life (QOL), asthma specific behaviors such as peak flow monitoring and general life style behaviors such as frequency of daily exercise. These results provide evidence that this new adult asthma self-management program can lead to both knowledge acquisition and behavioral changes.