Parental Self‐Efficacy and Asthma Self‐Management Skills

PURPOSE: To determine whether a formal asthma self-management program and social support using lay health advisors increases parent self-efficacy in the management of their child's asthma, and whether parent self-efficacy predicts asthma self-management skills. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental with four time points measured over 2 years. PARTICIPANTS: Low-income, primarily Hispanic parents (N = 303) of children with moderately severe to severe asthma. SETTING: A Southwestern university medical setting in a rural state. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Parent self-efficacy and parent asthma self-management skill score scales. RESULTS: Parent self-efficacy increased significantly from baseline, but there were no significant differences between the control and treatment groups. The increase in self-efficacy was apparent at 6 months, then leveled off. Parent self-efficacy at either baseline or 12 months did not predict parents' asthma self-management skill score. CONCLUSIONS: Individual education was just as effective as group education in increasing parental self-efficacy. Parents felt more comfortable treating asthma episodes than preventing them, thus clinicians need to spend time teaching preventive strategies.