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Feasibility study of a combined lifestyle behaviors and asthma self‐management intervention for school‐aged children
Author(s) -
Horner Sharon D.,
Timmerman Gayle M.,
McWilliams Bennie C.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal for specialists in pediatric nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1744-6155
pISSN - 1539-0136
DOI - 10.1111/jspn.12224
Subject(s) - asthma , medicine , physical therapy , intervention (counseling) , inhaler , psychological intervention , self management , body mass index , quality of life (healthcare) , asthma management , weight management , nursing , machine learning , computer science , overweight
Purpose The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of delivering an intervention that combines healthy lifestyle behaviors related to weight management with asthma self‐management, the Living Healthy with Asthma intervention, to children who have asthma. Methods and Design Using a mixed design, the feasibility study of the 12‐week Living Healthy with Asthma intervention was conducted with a single group of children diagnosed with asthma. Pretest and posttest data were collected on asthma‐related (self‐management, metered dose inhaler [MDI] skill, asthma severity, quality of life [QOL]), and healthy lifestyle variables (body mass index [BMI], dietary quality). A matched comparison sample was drawn from a separate study that tested the same asthma self‐management component (single intervention) used in the feasibility study to determine if the Living Healthy with Asthma intervention worked as well as the single intervention for improving children's asthma self‐management. Results Thirteen school‐aged children were enrolled in the feasibility study. There were significant reductions in BMI z ‐scores ( P = 0.007), and improvements in vegetable servings ( P = 0.03), MDI skill ( P = 0.005), children's QOL ( P < 0.001), and parents’ QOL ( P = 0.03). When comparing the feasibility group with the matched comparison group ( n = 13), there were no significant differences in asthma self‐management, MDI skill, or asthma severity after the interventions. Practice Implications Findings supported the feasibility of implementing the combined intervention, and it was not inferior to the single intervention—which supports nurses’ efforts to help families manage multiple health problems.