Rural Asthma Effectiveness Study

Asthma, the most common pediatric chronic illness, has high prevalence and morbidity among adolescents. Despite this, there are few interventions for high school students, and none have been tested when delivered by Community Health Workers (CHWs) or in rural areas. This represents a significant limitation because the CHW model has been shown to be successful in clinic- and home-based interventions. Also, rural adolescents with asthma represent a very large population. Given the high prevalence of asthma in this group, this oversight is a significant public health concern. Cost effectiveness analyses and implementation research are also lacking in asthma intervention research. This study addresses these treatment and methodological gaps. The investigators developed and established the efficacy of Asthma Self-Management for Adolescents (ASMA), an 8-week, high school-based intervention, in urban Hispanic and African American adolescents.

Inclusion criteria

• Adolescents who are at least 13.0 at the time of consent
• Teenager reports having a prior asthma diagnosis, and in the last 12 months has: (a) used prescribed asthma medication and (b) uncontrolled asthma, defined as: (i) symptoms 3+ days a week; (ii) night awakenings 3+ nights per month; (iii) 2+ ED visits; or (iv) 1+ hospitalization for asthma; and
• Adolescents are English proficient

Exclusion criteria

• Co-morbid diseases that affect lung functioning.