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Published on: November 4, 2010

The role of written action plans in childhood asthma

Francine M Ducharme1, Sanjit K Bhogal

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, 2300 Tupper Street, Montreal, Canada. francine.ducharme@mcgill.ca

Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology
|March 5, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Written action plans improve asthma self-management in children and adolescents. Symptom-based plans are more effective than peak-flow plans for preventing asthma exacerbations, though more research is needed on other key features.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Asthma Management
  • Self-Management Interventions

Background:

  • Guided self-management is crucial for pediatric asthma control.
  • Written action plans are a key component of self-management education.
  • Few action plans are specifically designed or validated for pediatric use.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the evidence for written action plans in pediatric asthma self-management.
  • To identify features associated with the effectiveness of these plans in children and adolescents.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on written action plans for pediatric asthma.
  • Analysis of evidence regarding the impact of action plans on asthma outcomes.
  • Comparison of different types of action plans (symptom-based vs. peak-flow based).

Main Results:

  • Limited but strong pediatric evidence supports the use of written action plans with guided self-management education.
  • Symptom-based written action plans are more effective than peak-flow based plans in preventing asthma exacerbations.
  • Daily controller medication use, as opposed to step-up therapy, is most effective for preventing exacerbations.

Conclusions:

  • Written action plans are effective tools for facilitating pediatric asthma self-management.
  • Symptom-based action plans demonstrate superiority over peak-flow based plans for exacerbation prevention.
  • Further research is required to identify other key features enhancing the effectiveness and uptake of written action plans in children and adolescents.
Abstract

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