Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of Staying Healthy-Asthma Responsible & Prepared, an academic asthma health education and counseling program, on fostering the use of effective asthma self-care behaviors. DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a phase III, two-group, cluster randomized, single-blinded, longitudinal design-guided study. Caregivers of 205 fourth- and fifth-grade students completed the asthma health behaviors survey at preintervention, and 1, 12, and 24 months postintervention. Analysis involved multilevel modeling. RESULTS: All students demonstrated improvement in episode management, risk reduction/prevention, and health promotion behaviors; Staying Healthy-Asthma Responsible & Prepared students demonstrated increased improvement in episode management and risk reduction/prevention behaviors. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Working with schoolteachers, nurses can improve the use of effective asthma self-care behaviors.