The effect of the AFS program in promoting asthma awareness, self care, and quality of life of school aged children

Objective: Asthma affects one in six children in Australia. The Asthma Foundation of Australia developed the Asthma Friendly Schools (AFS) program with the aim to improve quality of life, health outcomes, and well being of children with asthma. This study aimed to asses the impact of the AFS program on knowledge, self care, and quality of life of school aged children in rural Victoria, Australia.

 

Hypothesis: The following hypothesis was proposed: Children with asthma attending AFS will have better knowledge of asthma, self- management skills, health outcomes and quality of life than children with asthma attending non AFS.

 

Method: Children with asthma from a number of AFS and non-AFS schools were asked to complete questionnaires to test their asthma knowledge and quality of life. Valid and reliable instruments were used. Schools’ staff helped in recruiting and distributing the instruments among children who filled in the questionnaires as a class activity.

 

Results: Scores were entered into SPSS for psychometric analysis, and to compare results of children with asthma in AFS with children with asthma in non-AFS.  The main purpose of the analyses was to test the proposed hypothesis. Results from a previously applied pilot study revealed the promise for improving of asthma knowledge and clinical outcomes.

 

Conclusion: This study provided important outcomes to judge the efficacy of the AFS program. Moreover, asthma education services for children can be effective in improving quality of life and enhancing self management skills.

 

Key words:  asthma, asthma education, school aged, children, program evaluation, knowledge, quality of life, self efficacy, self-efficacy.