Triple A Program
OVERVIEW
The Triple A Program is a school-based peer-led asthma education program in which 11th grade students teach 10th grade students about asthma and asthma management, and the 10th grade students then teach 7th grade students. An evaluation of the program found that there were positive impacts on quality of life, days absent from school, and asthma attacks in school for the 10th grade students, and a marginal positive impact on quality of life for the 7th grade students. The improvement in quality of life was significant for girls, but not for boys. There was no impact on lung function.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
Target population: High school students
The intervention consists of having 11th grade students complete a six-hour asthma peer leader training workshop, in which they learn to educate their peers on asthma and asthma management using games, videos, worksheets, and discussion. These students then conduct three 45-minute lessons in groups of three to four peer leaders, for 10th grade students. The peer leaders use the teaching tools that they learned to help the 10th grade students examine the barriers to asthma management. The 10th grade students then present the key messages from those lessons to 7th grade students in the schools in the form of short acts, dramas, and songs.
EVALUATION OF PROGRAM
Evaluated population: 1,379 7th and 10th grade students from six high schools completed the screening, and of those, the 272 who reported recent wheezing and gave consent completed baseline measurements. Of this sample, 75 percent had been diagnosed with asthma. The average age for 7th grade participants was 12.5, and the average age for 10th grade participants was 15.5. Sixty-five percent of the intervention participants were female, while 46 percent of the control participants were female.
Approach: Schools were randomly assigned to the treatment or control condition. All 7th and 10th grade students who were present on test day (91 percent of the total student enrollment) completed the screening. Of these students, 325 reported recent wheezing, and 272 of those students consented and subsequently completed baseline measurements of lung function, school absenteeism, asthma attacks during school, and asthma quality of life, which is comprised of symptoms, activities, and emotional impact. Measurements were completed again by 251 of the participants following the intervention.
Results: There was a positive impact of the intervention on days absent from school and asthma attacks for 10th grade students, but not for 7th grade students. There was a positive impact on quality of life overall, and for the activities domain. However, there was only a marginal change in overall quality of life for 7th grade students, and there was no impact on the activities domain for 10th grade students. In addition, subgroup analyses by gender found that there was a positive impact on overall quality of life for females only, and that there was a positive impact in the emotions domain for males only. There was no intervention impact on lung function.
SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION
References
Shah, S., Peat, J.K., Mazurski, E.J., Wang, H., & Sindhusake, D. (2001). Effect of peer led programme for asthma education in adolescents: Cluster randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 322, 1-5.
Contact Information
Smita Shah
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine
Westmead Hospital
Westmead, NSW
2145, Australia
KEYWORDS: Adolescents (12-17), High School, Males and Females (Co-ed), School-based, Health Status/Conditions
Program information last updated on 12/15/10.
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© Child Trends 2004 |
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