Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate newly developed educational resources for children with asthma. Children with asthma, their parents, and pediatric health care professionals were invited to review age-appropriate asthma resources. Key findings revealed: (1) the perceived usefulness of these resources, particularly for creating discussion opportunities between children and their caregivers through implemented resource use; (2) the need for health education materials to balance goals of depth of information versus child enjoyment in order to increase effective knowledge transfer and application; and (3) a renewed call for future educational resources to be both relevant and interactive in their outreach and engagement of children, potentially involving mediums of advanced technology. Clinical experience and the literature note a current lack of pediatric asthma education materials. The positive findings of this review of novel educational materials in asthma address an important gap relative to pediatric practice, resource evaluation, and knowledge translation.
We thank Jennifer Leaist and Susan Carpenter, asthma clinic nurses, for their assistance. We also acknowledge that funding for this study was provided by the Ontario Lung Association as a component of a larger project of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Public Health Branch, Health Promotion and Wellness.