The Effects of Asthma Camp on Self-management among School-age Children with Asthma and their Caregivers

Abstract

The purpose of this  quasi-experimentalresearch, one  group  pretest-posttest  design,  is  tostudy  the  effects  of  the  asthma camp  on  self-management  skills of  school-age  children withasthma  and  their  caregivers. The  sample  consistedof  sixteen  school-age  children with  asthma  andtheir  caregivers  from  a  child  asthma  clinic at acommunity hospital. They received a self-managementeducational  program in  two  days of the  asthmacamp. The  program  was based  on  three  conceptsof  self-management, asthma  management  andprevention of GINA (2006), and  participatorylearning  among  the children, their  caregivers  andnurse  educators. The  subjects  were  evaluated  ontheir  self-management  skills  before  and  afterreceiving the asthma  camp. Data  were  collectedusing  two  questionnaires : a  child  self-managementasthma  and  a  caregiver  self-management asthma,which  their  reliability  were 0 .72  and 0.84, respectively.Data  were  analyzed  by  using  paired  t-testThe  results  showed  that1. after  the  Asthma  Camp, the mean totalscores  of  self-management  among  school-agechildren  with  asthma  is higher  than  before theasthma  camp, with  a  statistically  significant  level(p < 0.001)2. after  the  Asthma  Camp, the  mean totalscores  of self-management among  their caregivershigher  than  before the asthma camp, with  a  statisticallysignificant  level (p < 0.01)The finding reflected that asthma camp can helpschool-age children with asthma and their caregiversimprove their self-management  skills  lelated  toself-monitoring, self-regulating, self-adjusting  anddecision-making.  The asthma camp should be continue to used  for  school-age  children  with  asthma  andtheir  caregivers  and  applied to  other children withchronic  illness.