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Trends in Asthma‐Related School Health Policies and Practices in the US States *
Author(s) -
Qin Xiaoting,
Zahran Hatice S.,
LeonNguyen Michelle,
Kilmer Greta,
Collins Pamela,
Welch Paige,
Malilay Josephine
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.13124
Subject(s) - asthma , referral , medicine , absenteeism , health care , family medicine , logistic regression , health education , medical education , environmental health , public health , psychology , nursing , economic growth , immunology , social psychology , economics
BACKGROUND Asthma is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Schools can play an important role in coordinating asthma care. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of asthma‐related school health policies and practices across states and how they have changed over time. METHODS Data were analyzed from 36 states that conducted School Health Profiles surveys during 2008 to 2018. Trends in 6 topics were analyzed by logistic regression and JointPoint trend test. RESULTS Trends in efforts to identify and track students with asthma and improve students' and parents' knowledge about asthma were stable or increased. Interest among lead health education teachers in receiving professional development on asthma trended downward in 35 of 36 states. CONCLUSIONS Stable to upward trends suggest that a majority of schools have maintained or improved their efforts to identify and track students with asthma and increase the knowledge of students and parents about asthma. However, further improvement is needed in referral of students with asthma to health care professionals and encouraging asthma‐related professional development of lead health education teachers.