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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on March 5, 2008
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cym081
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Can schools promote the health of children with asthma?

Jenny McWhirter1, Donna McCann2,*, Helen Coleman3, Marguerite Calvert4 and John Warner5

1 Safety and Risk Education, RoSPA, RoSPA House, Edgbaston Park, Bristol Road, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK
2 School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
3 Dunsbury Way Community Clinic, Havant PO9 5BG, UK
4 Southampton City Council, School Nurse Service, Southampton SO16 9QX, UK
5 Department of Paediatrics, Wright Fleming Institute, Imperial College, London W2 1PG, UK

Correspondence to: * Correspondence to: D. C. McCann. E-mail: dcm1{at}soton.ac.uk

This report describes the evaluation of a whole-school intervention to improve morbidity and psychosocial well-being in pupils with asthma. In all, 193 children with asthma (7–9 years) from 23 primary/junior schools in the south of England participated. Schools (n = 12) randomly assigned to the intervention group (IV) received a staff asthma training session, advice on asthma policy and practice and an emergency β2-agonist inhaler with spacer. Pupils participated in an asthma lesson. Staff and pupils in non-intervention (NI) schools (n = 11) received no asthma-oriented input. While wheeze reports improved for all children with asthma, only the IV group showed lower requirement for medication (P = 0.01), clinically significant improvement (P < 0.05) in activity related quality of life (QOL) and increased self-esteem (SE: social P = 0.01; athletic P = 0.05; behaviour P = 0.001) in girls. SE decreased for NI girls but there was no change for non-asthmatic peers in NI or IV schools which had similar baseline levels of SE and QOL. There was a marginal improvement in the establishment of asthma policies/practices and no change in school absence or staff knowledge. The significantly increased peer group understanding of asthma seen in the intervention schools may have mediated increased well-being in the IV group. Primary schools are a potentially important context for improving asthma morbidity and psychosocial well-being of children with asthma.

Received on June 14, 2006; accepted on October 15, 2007


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