[Educating the asthma patient for routine illness management. Assuring long-term therapeutic success]

Although education programs for adult asthmatics promotes improved knowledge of the disease, it has been found that this alone does not result in any change in patient behavior. Against this background, the National Asthma Education Program Expert Panel (NAEP) recommends adapting the contents of the education programs more closely to the needs of the individual patient. This is to be achieved through self-monitoring, more influence on environmental factors, improved knowledge of the disease process and self-medication skills, and greater self-sufficiency on the part of the patient. Other studies have discussed various possible ways of implementing these recommendations, including the training of physical self-awareness, consideration and correction of subjective notions of the disease, dealing with disease-related emotions, and providing concrete advice on coping with the situations met with in daily life. A new patient education program developed by the Alpenklinik in Oberjoch serves to illustrate how the NAEP recommendations can be implemented.