A Family Intervention for Pediatric Asthma Self-Management in Puerto Ricans

This study compares an asthma self-management intervention, delivered to the family and tailored to their needs and cultural beliefs, to standard asthma education on two risk factors for asthma exacerbations in high-risk Puerto Rican children in high school. The self-management intervention will be a series of home visits provided by Puerto Rican community health workers. During home visits, the family will be educated using a standard asthma Core Curriculum which is tailored to individual needs, strengths, and beliefs. Specific Aim 1 is to test the ability of this tailored community health worker self-management intervention to reduce home asthma triggers and increase medication adherence in Puerto Rican adolescents with asthma. Specific Aim 2 is to test if any changes in triggers and adherence associated with this intervention are sustained 8 months after the completion of the active intervention. Another goal of the study is to build community capacity for asthma management in the target high-risk community.