Assessing the impact of a family empowerment program on asthma control and medication use in children with asthma: A randomized controlled trial

Purpose In pediatric asthma, family empowerment education has been beneficial for the quality of life, pulmonary function, and family functioning. Few studies addressed the impact of a family empowerment program on asthma symptom control, acute healthcare use (AHCU), and medication use in children with asthma. This study aimed to assess the effect of a family empowerment intervention on asthma symptom control, AHCU, inhaler technique, and controller adherence in children with asthma. Design and methods A single-center study using a randomized controlled design was conducted in a university hospital in the center of Tunisia from May 2018 to September 2019. Eighty-two families were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 41) of 8 weeks of group training sessions, or to the control group (n = 41) of usual care education. Thirty-seven families in the intervention group and 39 families in the control group received allocated intervention at baseline. Thirty-four families in each group completed the study at the 12-month follow-up. Results At baseline, the intervention and control groups were statistically comparable (p > .05). At follow-up, there were significant differences between the intervention and the control group in asthma symptom control, χ2 (1, N = 34) = 9.950, p = .002, and inhalation technique, χ2 (1, N = 34) = 5.916, p = .01. For AHCU and adherence to asthma controller, there was no significant difference between groups, χ2 (1, N = 34) = 3.219, p = .07, χ2 (1, N = 34) = 0.541, p = .46, respectively. The difference within time in asthma symptom control and inhalation technique was significant (p = 10-3 , p = .001; respectively). Practice implications This study demonstrated that a family empowerment program significantly improved asthma symptom control and inhaler technique in children with asthma aged 7-17 years. This intervention could be clinically useful and time-saving for pediatric nurses.