Educational Intervention by Computer in Childhood Asthma: A Randomized Clinical Trial Testing the Use of a New Teaching Intervention in Childhood Asthma

摘要

To affect asthma-related knowledge, behavior, and morbidity, researchers tested a new educational intervention for children with asthma: an asthma-specific computer game called Asthma Command, which was specifically designed for this study. Sixty-five children with moderately severe asthma were randomly assigned to one of two groups, and 54 completed the study. Both groups were seen approximately six times during the 1 year of the study. Control subjects (n = 29) played routine computer games. Experimental subjects (n = 25) played Asthma Command. Compared with children in the control group, experimental subjects showed improvement in knowledge about asthma ( P .001), behavior related to the management of asthma ( P .008), and a trend toward the reduction of acute visits due to asthma ( P .13). Children in the experimental group also scored higher on the assessment of behaviors related to the management of asthma that were specifically addressed by the intervention provided by Asthma Command ( P .01). Differences between the control and experimental groups showed a greater improvement in the experimental group in 21 (84%) of the 25 outcome variables in the study ( P = .004, Sign test). The study indicates that an asthma-specific computer game can significantly affect knowledge and behavior and may potentially affect morbidity in childhood asthma.