Implementing school asthma programs: Lessons learned and recommendations

Abstract

Despite significant advances in the treatment of asthma and the development of evidence-based and evidence-informed guidelines, childhood asthma morbidity remains high. One measure of asthma-associated morbidity is school absenteeism. In this rostrum we summarize key themes from 3 articles in this special issue on school-centered asthma programs. All 3 articles in this series describe several common themes that are essential for successful school-based interventions. These themes include the importance of trust and building strong partnerships, the importance of interaction and communication between multiple key stakeholders (ecological framework), the central and often overlooked role of the primary care clinician, the need for sustainable resources, and the importance of context and public policy. We then discuss how to apply the framework of implementation research to inform and evaluate school-based interventions. Finally, we make a series of recommendations for future work.

Keywords: Asthma; environment; implementation research; policy; school-based asthma programs.