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Clinical health education for patients with asthma‐like symptoms but negative asthma tests
Author(s) -
Ringsberg K. C.,
Timpka T.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1034/j.1398-9995.2001.00114.x
Subject(s) - asthma , medicine , physical therapy , allergy , health education , group b , pediatrics , public health , immunology , nursing
Background: Patients with asthma‐like symptoms but negative asthma tests often state that they lack strategies to cope with their symptoms. The aim of the study was to determine whether a problem‐based health education program had a beneficial effect on the participants' experience of symptoms and subjective health. Methods: Thirty‐eight patients, consecutively drawn from an outpatient clinic for asthma and allergy, were randomly allocated to an intervention group (I group, n =18) and a control group (C group, n =20). The I group, divided into three subgroups, met on seven occasions over 5 months. The program had a multidisciplinary approach, used exercises inspired by cognitive behavioral therapy, and was performed according to the principles of problem‐based learning. All patients answered the Nijmegen Symptom Questionnaire (NQ) and the SF‐36 health survey before and 2 months after the training was terminated. Results: Before the program, there were no significant differences between the groups in their earlier experience of symptoms. After it, the I group scored significantly lower on shortness of breath ( P =0.001) and central tetany ( P =0.05) than the C group. On both test occasions, the asthma‐like patients scored lower on all variables of the SF‐36 than the reference groups of asthmatics and healthy subjects. No significant differences were seen between the I group and the C group except for vitality, in which the C group scored lower before the intervention. Conclusions: Patients with asthma‐like symptoms but negative asthma tests benefit from taking part in a problem‐based health education program. It mainly reduces the frequency of symptoms.