Impact of student pharmacist-delivered asthma education on child and caregiver knowledge

To evaluate the effectiveness of asthma education delivered by student pharmacists and to assess the impact of child and caregiver baseline asthma knowledge on asthma control in children.

Student pharmacists developed and implemented asthma self-management education interventions for children and their caregivers and performed asthma screenings for children at a series of asthma camps.

Eighty-seven children, ages 5-17 years, and their caregivers were enrolled in this study. A previously validated asthma questionnaire was modified to assess asthma knowledge among children and adults. Asthma knowledge increased significantly in children following participation in the education intervention (p<0.001). The education intervention, however, did not increase caregiver knowledge of asthma. A significant association was observed between caregiver baseline asthma knowledge and better asthma control in their children (p=0.019).

The results of this study demonstrate that student pharmacist-delivered asthma education can positively impact asthma knowledge in children, and that caregivers' knowledge of asthma is strongly correlated with better asthma control in their children.