Parent Mentors for Children with Asthma

PARENT MENTORS FOR CHILDREN WITH ASTHMA

OVERVIEW

Parent Mentors for Children with Asthma is a program designed to provide children and families with a parent mentor to assist in managing the child’s asthma. An evaluation at the 12-month post-intervention found impacts on episodes of rapid-breathing, asthma exacerbations, emergency department visits, parent quality of life, and parent self-efficacy. There were no impacts on episodes of wheezing, coughing, difficultly breathing, or chest tightness, missed school days or parent work days, asthma-related hospitalizations, asthma-related doctor visits, child quality of life, or parent satisfaction.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Black and Latino children 2-18 years of age with a primary diagnosis of asthma.

Parent Mentors for Children with Asthma is a program designed to provide children and families with a parent mentor to assist in managing the child’s asthma. Parent Mentors are also parents who have experience caring for a child with asthma and live in the same community as program families. As the first point of contact with the family, the Parent Mentor visits the family home within three days of the child’s emergency department visit or hospitalization. From there, Parent Mentors meet on a monthly basis with children and their families at community centers, churches, Boys and Girls Club, or some other location and have monthly telephone contact with families. Meetings focus on asthma education and provide opportunities for children and families to interact with one another and create peer support. After six months, the Parent Mentor makes a second home visit with the family. Parent Mentors are available 24-hours a day by telephone to answer questions or concerns.

Parent Mentors receive a two-and-a-half day training, which is conducted by a nurse asthma specialist along with the program coordinator. Training sessions, along with the manual, address the following topics: importance of asthma; sharing experiences on caring for a child with asthma; helping children with asthma avoid hospitalization; providing basic information about asthma; identifying asthma medication and triggers; importance of regular and follow-up medical appointments; cultural issues that may affect asthma care; basic information about the intervention and study; and how to be a successful Parent Mentor. Parent Mentors also receive a separate training, along with resources, about health insurance programs for uninsured children, locations for free clinics for care, medication and equipment information sheets, and developing friendly reminder calendars for healthcare appointment. Parent Mentors are also provided with information about assisting families with unmet needs for health insurance coverage, housing, and food.

The intervention costs approximately $121 per child participant for the first month of the program and the last month of follow-up.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Flores G, Bridon C, Torres S, Perez R, Walter T, Brotanek J, Lin H, Tomany-Korman S. (2009). Improving Asthma Outcomes in Minority Children: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Parent Mentors. Pediatrics, 124(6):1523-1532.

Evaluated population: A total of 220 black and Latino children with asthma, and their families, participated in the study. The mean age of the study child was seven years. Among children in the intervention group, 40% were female, 89% had a primary care provider, 34% had severe persistent asthma, and approximately 3% did not have health insurance coverage. This program was confined to families residing within the Milwaukee, WI.

Approach: Children were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n=112) or the control group (n=108). Participants enrolled in the control group continued to receive their usual asthma care with their primary care physician. Children and families were assessed on the following: asthma symptoms and exacerbation, missed child school days and missed parent work days, past emergency department visits and hospitalizations, parent asthma management self-efficacy, parent and child asthma quality of life, and parent satisfaction with child’s asthma care. Families were assessed at baseline as well as after the intervention or 12 months after baseline. All families received a $50 incentive for agreeing to participate in the study as well as $10 for each subsequent month they continued to participate in the study.

Results: At the 12-month post-intervention assessment, there were significant decreases in episodes of rapid-breathing, asthma exacerbations, and emergency department visits among those in the intervention group compared with the control group. There were also significant increases in parent quality of life and parent self-efficacy among those in the intervention group compared with the control group. There were no significant differences between the two study groups for episodes of wheezing, coughing, difficultly breathing, or chest tightness, missed school days or parent work days, asthma-related hospitalizations, asthma-related doctor visits, child quality of life, and parent satisfaction.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information, including the parent mentor training manual, please visit: http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/ParentMentor/

References

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: Children (3-11)

Program components: Mentoring, Home-based, Community-based

Measured outcomes: Physical Health

KEYWORDS: Children (3-11), Black/African-American, Home Visitation, Mentoring, Parent/Family Component, Health Status/Conditions, Manual Available, Cost Information Available, Parent Education.

Program information last updated on 12/15/10.

		© Child Trends 2004