Asthma: School-Based Self-Management Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Asthma

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends school-based asthma self-management interventions to reduce hospitalizations and emergency room visits in children and adolescents with asthma. These interventions provide education or counseling to help children and adolescents with asthma learn to do 1 or more of these things:

• Recognize and manage symptoms
• Use medicines and inhalers the right way
• Avoid asthma triggers

CPSTF found that when trained school staff, nurses, and health educators deliver these interventions in elementary, middle, and high schools that serve students of many different backgrounds and identities, the interventions are effective. In addition, when they’re implemented in schools in low-income or minority communities, these interventions can help alleviate health disparities.