Pilot testing Okay With Asthma: an online asthma intervention for school-age children

Abstract

Asthma is the leading cause of missed school days despite advancements in asthma treatment. This may be, in part, due to a lack of understanding about asthma. Okay With Asthma, an online story with psychosocial management strategies for school-age children, was pilot tested to measure its effect on asthma knowledge and attitude. The online program delivers content about asthma through a digital story and story-writing program. Using a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, 35 children with moderate to severe asthma completed a pretest measure of asthma knowledge and attitudes and then completed Okay With Asthma. At 1 week and 2 weeks after the intervention, the children completed the measures again. There were significant improvements in asthma knowledge scores at the 1- and 2-week evaluations and significant improvements in attitude scores 2 weeks after the program. Okay With Asthma specifically targets school-age children and teaches them how to use school resources and peers while managing their asthma.