Questions and reported medication problems from pediatric patients and caregivers after intervention

The effectiveness of an asthma question prompt list with video intervention to increase question-asking during pediatric office visits among youth who reported medication problems was evaluated.

English- or Spanish-speaking youth age 11-17 years with persistent asthma and their caregivers were enrolled from 4 pediatric clinics in a randomized controlled trial. Youth were randomized to intervention or usual care groups. Youth in the intervention group watched an educational video with their caregivers on an iPad. The youth then received a 1-page asthma question prompt list to complete before their visits. The audio of all baseline medical visits was recorded. Youth were interviewed and caregivers completed questionnaires at baseline and 6 months later.

A total of 40 providers and 359 of their patients participated. Youth who reported at least 1 medication problem who were in the intervention group were significantly more likely to ask 1 or more questions about medications during their visits than youth in the usual care group (odds ratio = 3.1, 95% confidence interval = 2.0, 4.1). Seventy-four percent of youth and 71% caregivers who reported the youth had problems using asthma medications at baseline still reported 1 or more problems 6 months later.

Among youth who reported 1 or more problems with using their asthma medications, the intervention significantly increased youth question-asking. Many youth- and caregiver-reported problems with using asthma medications persisted over time.