AsthmaWise – a field of dreams? The results of an online education program targeting older adults with asthma

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish the feasibility and acceptability of an online asthma selfmanagement program developed for older Australians with asthma. Methods: AsthmaWise, an internet education self-management program, was piloted for a 3-month period at the beginning of 2012. Participants were recruited using both online and offline strategies and were required to complete surveys, both pre-and post-intervention, in a repeated measures design. Results: Matched data were collected from 51 participants; the results showed AsthmaWise to be a feasible and acceptable method of delivering asthma education to the target population. Self-reported measures showed an increase in participants' asthma knowledge, asthma control and quality of life. Results from the Perceived Health Web Site Usability Questionnaire (PHWSUQ) showed improvements between usability testing and implementation. Conclusion: The need for asthma selfmanagement education will continue to increase as the population ages and a greater number of older adults are living with asthma. This small pilot study indicates that an online asthma self-management education program can result in improved outcome measures in a target group not normally considered technologically literate. Abstract ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to establish the feasibility and acceptability of an online asthma self-management program developed for older Australians with asthma. MethodsAsthmaWise, an internet education self-management program, was piloted for a three month period at the beginning of 2012. Participants were recruited using both online and offline strategies, and were required to complete surveys, both pre and post intervention, in a repeated measures design. ResultsMatched data was collected from 51 participants; the results showed AsthmaWise to be a feasible and acceptable method of delivering asthma education to the target population.Self-reported measures showed an increase in participants' asthma knowledge, asthma control and quality of life. Results from the Perceived Health Web Site Usability Questionnaire (PHWSUQ) showed improvements between usability testing and implementation.AsthmaWise -a field of dreams? The results of an online education program targeting older adults with asthma. 2 ConclusionThe need for asthma self-management education will continue to increase as the population ages and a greater number of older adults are living with asthma. This small pilot study indicates that an online asthma self-management education program can result in improved outcome measures in a target group not normally considered technologically literate.AsthmaWise -a field of dreams? The results of an online education program targeting older adults with asthma.

Theory-Based Digital Interventions to Improve Asthma Self-Management Outcomes: Systematic Review (Preprint)

“…1). Of these 16 studies, 11 (69%) reported on randomised controlled trials (RCT) (10 two-arm RCTs [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59], one three-arm RCT [60]) and 5 (31%) were feasibility studies employing a pre-post design [61][62][63][64][65] (Multimedia Apendix 2). Two of the RCTs reported on the same intervention [51,59], however, as they reported on different outcomes, and different uses of theory, we have considered them as separate interventions.…”

“…Only the two pre-post studies [62,63] reported a significant effect of the intervention on asthma control.…”

“…Five studies (31%; 3 RCTs and 2 pre-post studies) reported on asthma control, measured by the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) (n=1; [57]); the Asthma Control Test (n=3; [50,52,63]); and the Royal College of Physicians 3-questions screening tool (n=1; [62]). Only the two pre-post studies [62,63] reported a significant effect of the intervention on asthma control.…”

“…Each of the five studies (31%; 3 RCTs and 2 pre-post studies) that measured self-management behaviour [51,57,59,62,64] used a different measure. These included the Partners in Health Scale [62], a validated measure of self-management behaviours, the Child Self-Management Instrument [51], Child Self-Efficacy Expectations measure [51], the use of writen action plans for managing asthma [57], the Asthma Belief Survey [64] and a 23-item questionnaire developed for the study to determine change in confidence in performing self-regulatory and asthma-specific behaviours, and an atribution classification questionnaire assessing self-management [59]. Three studies (3 RCTs and 1 pre-post study) reported a significant positive effect of the intervention on self-management behaviours [51,59,64] (Table 2).…”

“…Most studies were undertaken in the United States (75%; n=12; [51-56, 59-61, 63-65]), followed by Australia (n=2; [57,62]), Canada (n=1; [50]) and New Zealand (n=1; [58]). Studies included a range of ages: children (44%; n=7; [51, 53, 59-61, 64, 65]), adolescents (13%; n=2; [54,55]), adults (38%; n=6; [50,52,57,58,62,63]) and mixed sample (6%; n=1; [56]). Between 35-82% of the samples were female.…”