Abstract

Background

Asthma is a prevalent health condition within Madera County. This study is piloted with CHSU faculty and staff with 3 education sessions. Next year, an education intervention will be carried out with the target population at Madera County Public Health Department ages 13-21 diagnosed with asthma with the smart aim of a 20% increase in asthma-related knowledge. 
Methods: Sessions contain group learning techniques with a pre-test and post-test for weeks 2-5. The pre-tests and post-tests demonstrate if there is an increase in participants’ asthma knowledge after each session. The education interventions include asthma overview, asthma treatment, diet and exercise, and asthma prevention.

Results

The mean difference between pre and post-test for weeks 2-5 are 9.1% increase, 9% increase, 3.6% increase, and 17.11% increase, respectively. There was an increase in asthma knowledge each week after the education interventions. The p-value range is less than 0.05 for a one-tailed test. The p-values for weeks 2-5 are 0.008, 0.12, 0.22, and 0.018, respectively. Therefore, only weeks 2 and 5 are statistically significant.

Discussion

While every session demonstrated improvement, the smart aim was not met. Limitations of the pilot include a participant sample with increased reasoning skills, resulting in higher test results, inconsistent participant attendance, and COVID restrictions denying the ideal participant group of asthma patients aged 13-21. This study will refine the education tests to make them more correlated with each learning session.