School and Community-based Nurse-led Asthma Interventions for School-aged Children and Their Parents: A Systematic Literature Review.

Problem: Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world. Lack of asthma knowledge can lead to asthma exacerbations, more emergency room visits, school absences, and decreased quality of life. This systematic review examines the effectiveness of educational intervention programs on asthma management for school-aged children and their parents beyond inpatient clinic settings.

Eligibility Criteria: Educational asthma interventions for school-aged children and their parents with comparison with usual asthma care and the outcome related to asthma management. Studies included were peer-reviewed and published in English within the last five years.

Sample: The eight study articles were identified in ProQuest, Medline, CINAHL, and PubMed databases.

Results: The review demonstrated that educational asthma interventions for children and their parents significantly improved knowledge and skills related to asthma self-management.

Conclusions: School and community-based asthma educational intervention programs are key components for good management of asthma condition. Well-planned asthma education programs are valuable and should go beyond inpatient clinic settings for promoting and maintaining health for children with asthma and their parents.

Implications: School nurses are well-positioned to assume a more prominent role in asthma care to improve child health and academic outcomes. School nurses have an opportunity to establish a trusting relationship that is foundational for collaborating with parents and students for better asthma management.