Student knowledge gains among first-time and repeat attendees of school-based asthma education program

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Asthma Management
• School Health Programs
• Health Education Research

Background:

• Schools are key settings for asthma education, impacting 1 in 12 US children.
• Annual school-based asthma education is common, but its repeated impact is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Fight Asthma Now© (FAN) school-based program.
• To assess the impact of repeated participation on asthma knowledge.

Main Methods:

• Observational study of the FAN program in Illinois schools.
• Pre- and post-program surveys assessed demographics, prior education, and asthma knowledge (11 questions).
• Analysis included 4,951 student participants.

Main Results:

• Participants had a mean age of 10.75 years; 54.6% had no prior asthma education.
• Repeat attendees showed higher baseline knowledge than first-time attendees (7.45 vs. 5.92).
• Both groups significantly improved knowledge post-program (first-time: 5.92 to 9.32; repeat: 7.45 to 9.62).

Conclusions:

• School-based asthma education significantly enhances student knowledge.
• Repeated participation in asthma education programs yields incremental knowledge gains.
• Further research is needed on the long-term effects of repeated asthma education on health outcomes.