Asthma camp. Quality of life questionnaires

Asthma is one of the most common chronic chilhood disease. Asthmatic children need a self-management educational program, besides the medical treatment and clinical control. Camps are the ideal place to complete the educational program, to get the right control of the disease and to build the child confidence. Madrid Castilla la Mancha Allergy Society organizes every year a summer camp in a town, near Madrid. Fifty-four children stay for one week with certified allergists, fellows-in-training, nurses and cheer-leaders.Fifty-four children from 8 to 14 years old, with moderate to severe asthma participate in the camp. The camp includes educational, athletic and social activities. Campers participate daily in instructive and didactic teaching sessions. We evaluate quality of life with a questionaire filled in the camp and two months later. Results are analysed into two age groups, one between 8-10 years old and the other from 11 to 14 years old. The first group get a good management and improve their vision of the disease, quite the contrary, adolescents face up to a chronic disease with daily treatment, feeling asthma as a restriction of their autonomy. Even so, they identify crisis and learn to control them in an special risky life period. Asthma camps is a good experience for both groups and also for sanitary equipment.