This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1090198106290622v1 35/3/376    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Parker, E. A. Articles by Lewis, T. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Parker, E. A. Articles by Lewis, T. C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Evaluation of Community Action Against Asthma: A Community Health Worker Intervention to Improve Children's Asthma-Related Health by Reducing Household Environmental Triggers for Asthma

Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, edithp{at}umich.edu

Barbara A. Israel, DrPH, MPH

Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor

Thomas G. Robins, MD, MPH

Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor

Graciela Mentz, PhD

Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Xihong Lin, PhD

Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston

Wilma Brakefield-Caldwell

Community Partner at Large, Community Action Against Asthma, Detroit

Erminia Ramirez, MSW

Community Health and Social Services (CHASS), Detroit

Katherine K. Edgren, MSW

Student Health Services, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Maria Salinas

National Community Development Institute, Detroit

Toby C. Lewis, MD, MPH

Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor

This article describes the evaluation of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) community health worker (CHW) intervention to improve children's asthma-related health by reducing household environmental triggers for asthma. After randomization to an intervention or control group, 298 households in Detroit, Michigan, with a child, aged 7 to 11, with persistent asthma symptoms participated. The intervention was effective in increasing some of the measures of lung function (daily nadir Forced Expiratory Volume at one second [p = .03] and daily nadir Peak Flow [p = .02]), reducing the frequency of two symptoms ("cough that won't go away," "coughing with exercise"), reducing the proportion of children requiring unscheduled medical visits and reporting inadequate use of asthma controller medication, reducing caregiver report of depressive symptoms, reducing concentrations of dog allergen in the dust, and increasing some behaviors related to reducing indoor environmental triggers. The results suggest a CHW environmental intervention can improve children's asthma-related health, although the pathway for improvement is complex.

Key Words: asthma intervention • community partnership • environmental triggers

This version was published on June 1, 2008

Health Education & Behavior, Vol. 35, No. 3, 376-395 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1090198106290622


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Krieger Home Visits for Asthma: We Cannot Afford to Wait Any Longer Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, March 1, 2009; 163(3): 279 - 281. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Krieger, T. K. Takaro, L. Song, N. Beaudet, and K. Edwards A Randomized Controlled Trial of Asthma Self-management Support Comparing Clinic-Based Nurses and In-Home Community Health Workers: The Seattle-King County Healthy Homes II Project Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, February 1, 2009; 163(2): 141 - 149. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]