A library-site asthma education program for inner-city communities

Asthma education programs are reportedly effective for children and adolescents. Urban and minority children continue to have poor asthma outcomes and limited access to asthma education programs. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a library-based asthma education program, the Columbus Ohio Partnership for Inner-City Asthma Education (COPICAE), offered to urban and minority children (with their parents) could improve asthma-related outcomes and reduce billing claims for asthma-related hospital visits. A prospective/observational study was conducted to evaluate asthma-related outcomes of 87 children who completed 6 hours of asthma education using telephone follow-up at 12 and 24 months with a scored Living With Asthma Survey (LWAS). Hospital billing claims for asthma as the primary diagnosis were compared over a 24-month period for 64 children who completed 6 hours of asthma education with an age and zip code match control. Two separate focus groups with Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parents who completed 6 hours of asthma education with their children obtained parental perspectives about the asthma education classes. LWAS follow-up data were obtained on 67% of the participants at year 1 and 43% at year 2. Compared to pre-intervention mean scores, there were decreases in scores to all LWAS items. Parents reported improvements in compliance with asthma medication use and overall control of their child's asthma. Parents also found the information from the asthma education classes to be "beneficial." Total asthma-related billing claims for children who completed 6 hours of asthma education decreased 63.2%, while those for age and zip code matched controls increased 0.7%. Inner-city and minority children (with their parents) who attended 6 hours of asthma education offered in a public library showed improvements in asthma-related outcomes over a 24-month period and decreased billing claims for asthma-related hospital visits. Parents found 6 hours of asthma education to be beneficial in gaining basic knowledge about asthma and improving their child's illness control and self-esteem in living with asthma.