Investigation of the Role of Pictorial Asthma Action Plans to Promote Self-management in Rural Youth With Asthma

Asthma is the most common chronic health condition of childhood, and continues to be associated with morbidity and mortality. Many children with persistent asthma follow a treatment plan including a prescription to take a daily inhaled corticosteroid (controller), often in conjunction with a daily oral controller medication, and a dose of an albuterol (rescue) inhaler before activity or exercise. Young people with asthma must add to this treatment plan in response to a flare in symptoms by taking additional medication and contacting their asthma provider or getting to a hospital. Adherence to daily medications is essential for maintaining lung health and reducing symptom flares, but asthma treatment is complex, requiring regular decision-making in response to symptoms and environmental issues like symptom triggers. As a result consistent adherence is a challenge for families and young people. It is recommended to provide an Asthma Action Plan (AAP) to all people diagnosed with asthma, summarizing their treatment plan using a traffic light format; Green Zone for daily, symptom-free management, Yellow Zone for symptom flare, and Red Zone for extreme symptom flare. Despite evidence for the effectiveness of AAPs, they are often not prescribed for reasons including readability and accessibility for families and young people, and asthma provider perceptions of their utility and suitability. In this study, young people with persistent asthma will be given a Written (WAAP) or Pictorial Asthma Action Plan (PAAP) to compare the differential impact on AAP knowledge, adherence to daily inhaler use, and asthma control. Software developed for the study, in collaboration with providers, young people with asthma and their parents, will be used to generate personalized PAAPs. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected to explore perceptions of providers, parents and young people of different versions of AAPs, the influence of AAPs on asthma understanding and management, and the experience of taking part in the study, as well as to assess the impact of different AAPs on the asthma and psychosocial outcomes mentioned. The findings will inform the development of the PAAP software and as the basis for a definitive Randomized Controlled Trial of the efficacy of PAAPs.