Effects of an Asthma Disease Management Program for Individuals with Asthma

Background:  Asthma is a serious global health problem affecting all age groups with increasing prevalence and raising treatment costs.  To enhance the care of individuals with asthma, National Health Insurance Administration implemented “Asthma Management Program” in 2001. Since then, numerous studies had conducted to evaluate the effect of the program, focusing on the effect of medical utilization with either short –term or one-time follow-up, yet only scant studies have focused on the outcomes such as self-care ability, asthma control and quality of life.  

Purpose: This study used a repeated measure approach to evaluate the program outcome.  The study aim was two folds: (1) the effects of Asthma Management program were evaluated in terms of self care ability, asthma control and hospitalization, and (2) the predict factor of program outcomes was explored.

Methods:  This study used longitudinal design with convenient sampling method. Thirty individuals, who enrolled in the Asthma Management Program at a medical center in Central Taiwan, participated at this study. Adult Asthma Self-Care Behavior Scale, Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire, Asthma Control Test and Demographic Data Sheet were used to collect data form participants.  Data were collected at before enrollment of the program, 1- , 3- and 6-month after enrollment. 

Results:  The results showed improved self-care ability, better asthma control and better quality of life in participants. The results also showed the improvements of outcomes increased with the time of disease management increased.  Significant decreased in the frequency of hospitalization was noted at three months after participated at the program; however, no significant differences in hospitalization were noted at both the first and the sixth month follow-up.  Age was the only  predictor of the outcomes of the Asthma Disease Management Program; the group of aged 51-65  showed better outcome in asthma control then the group of aged 18-30.

Conclusion:   The study has revealed that asthma required long-term-and continuous care. An effective disease management model should be designed to include comprehensive asthma health education program to meet patient’s need. Based on our study, the predict factors of adult Asthma Disease Management Program can be a reference for interventions for all medical members.