Asthma Management

Asthma is a major health problem among adolescents. Studies have identified substantial under diagnosis of asthma and poor understanding of asthma management. During adolescence, behavioural changes can have an adverse impact on asthma management because adherence to treatment of the asthma decreases and medical supervision becomes less consistent. The resulting inadequate asthma management often leads to frequent absenteeism, hospital admissions, and also compromises a young person's education, social skills, and physical activity, all through a dropping of in the asthma management.

A structured programme for asthma management and asthma education led by peers can lead to an improvement in self reported quality of life in adolescents with asthma. On average eight students would need education by their peers for one student with asthma to report a clinically significant improvement in quality of life. The education programme influenced different domains in males and females. For males the effect of the intervention was most apparent in the emotions domain, for females the activities domain. This is of clinical importance because the differences between sexes indicate areas that need to be targeted in asthma management.

One form of asthma management is for individuals to control asthma with oral medication taken regularly to prevent attacks and with medication inhaled at the onset of an attack. Schools can take many measures to ensure the health, safety, and emotional comfort of students with asthma. The most effective school asthma management program is a cooperative effort involving health providers, school staff, parents and students. A local hospital, or an organisation can provide staff members with training and education, plus printed materials on asthma. Trainers can be a part of asthma management by teaching staff how to recognize the signs of an asthma attack and help a child stop an attack by encouraging relaxation and deep breathing. Also, determine whether professional medical help is needed and organise it quickly. 74% of people with asthma suffer symptoms needlessly! Asthma is controllable with good asthma management!