Telemedicine Education for Rural Children With Asthma

Telemedicine Education for Rural Children With Asthma

The investigators will implement an interactive school-based telemedicine education program for rural low-income, minority children with asthma, their caregivers, and school nurses in the Delta region of Arkansas.

Specific aims:

1. The investigators will examine changes in asthma symptoms control and other health outcomes such as activity levels and family/child emotional health in the intervention group compared to a usual care group.
2. The investigators will examine changes in asthma knowledge, self-efficacy, and quality of life in the intervention participants and their caregivers compared to a usual care group.

The investigators will conduct a prospective study to examine the impact of an interactive, telemedicine asthma intervention among children living in the rural Delta region of Arkansas.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Study participants will be English-speaking children ages 7-17 years with physician-diagnosed asthma and/or active symptoms in the previous 12 months.

• Active symptoms include one or more of the following:

  • experience daytime wheezing, shortness of breath, and/or coughing two or more times a week for the last 4 weeks;
  • nighttime wheezing, shortness of breath and/or cough more than once a week;
  • take asthma medication more than two days a week;
  • have been treated in a hospital or emergency department two or more times in the last two years for asthma symptoms;
  • have been treated in a hospital or emergency department two or more times in the last two years for asthma symptoms have episodes of asthma-like symptoms when playing/exercising.

• Potentially eligible participants will be screened using an asthma screener to confirm eligibility.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children with significant underlying respiratory disease other than asthma (such as cystic fibrosis) or significant co-morbid conditions (such as severe developmental delay or cerebral palsy) will be excluded from the study.
• The primary caregiver and child will be asked questions via telephone interview about how asthma affects the child every day. Children with no telephone number or contact telephone number will be excluded.