Asthma education for rural school nurses: resources, barriers, and outcomes

This paper describes a school-based asthma education program for rural elementary school nurses. The program was designed to teach school nurses in 7 rural counties in Maryland how to implement and to reinforce asthma management behaviors in children with asthma and their caregivers. Rural nurses who participated in this program increased their mean asthma knowledge scores more than nurses who did not take the program. The program also increased self-efficacy among intervention school nurses, but the difference in self-efficacy between intervention and control nurses was not statistically significant at follow-up. No effects on documentation or communication behaviors were noted. Only 25% of the nurses reported an interest in implementing future asthma educational programs for children with asthma. This study indicates the importance of understanding the unique characteristics of rural school nurses, the resources they need, and the barriers and challenges they face in their practice.