Aim: This paper is a report of a trial to examine the effectiveness of individualized self-care education programmes in older adults with moderate-to-severe asthma.
Background: Asthma is a common chronic disease in adults and a major cause of frequent work absences, emergency room visits, and hospitalization. The results of studies of self-care education programmes have been largely supportive and suggest that they have positive outcomes for people with asthma. However, for older people with asthma, the effectiveness of computer-aided, self-learning video programmes has been controversial.
Methods: Older adult patients with asthma (N = 148) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: usual care, individualized education, or individualized education with peak flow monitoring, and followed for 6 months. Data were collected from January to December 2006. The variables studied included demographic data, asthma self-care competence, asthma self-efficacy, and asthma self-care behaviour. FINDINGS. Patients in both individualized education groups reported higher asthma self-care competence scores (F = 334.06 and 481.37, P < 0.001) and asthma self-care and self-efficacy scores (F = 104.08 and 68.42, P < 0.001) than patients in the usual care group. In addition, patients who received individualized education with peak flow monitoring had statistically significantly higher asthma self-care behaviour and self-efficacy scores (P < 0.001) and asthma control indicators (P = 0.025) than the education alone group. No differences were found among the three groups in unscheduled health service usage.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that individualized education helps older people with asthma to enhance their self-care behaviours, manage their disease, and increase their quality of life.