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.

Author(s): Krieger J, Takaro TK, Song L, Beaudet N, Edwards K

Affiliation(s): University of Washington School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seattle, WA 98104, USA. james.krieger@kingcounty.gov

Publication date & source: 2009-02, Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med., 163(2):141-9.

Publication type: Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the marginal benefit of in-home asthma self-management support provided by community health workers (CHWs) with standard asthma education from clinic-based nurses. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Community and public health clinics and homes. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred nine children aged 3 to 13 years with asthma living in low-income households. INTERVENTIONS: All participants received nurse-provided asthma education and referrals to community resources. Some participants also received CHW-provided home environmental assessments, asthma education, social support, and asthma-control resources. OUTCOME MEASURES: Asthma symptom-free days, Pediatric Asthma Caretaker Quality of Life Scale score, and use of urgent health services. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant increases in caretaker quality of life (nurse-only group: 0.4 points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.3-0.6; nurse + CHW group: 0.6 points; 95% CI, 0.4-0.8) and number of symptom-free days (nurse only: 1.3 days; 95% CI, 0.5-2.1; nurse + CHW: 1.9 days; 95% CI, 1.1-2.8), and absolute decreases in the proportion of children who used urgent health services in the prior 3 months (nurse only: 17.6%; 95% CI, 8.1%-27.2%; nurse + CHW: 23.1%; 95% CI, 13.6%-32.6%). Quality of life improved by 0.22 more points in the nurse + CHW group (95% CI, 0.00-0.44; P = .049). The number of symptom-free days increased by 0.94 days per 2 weeks (95% CI, 0.02-1.86; P = .046), or 24.4 days per year, in the nurse + CHW group. While use of urgent health services decreased more in the nurse + CHW group, the difference between groups was not significant. CONCLUSION: The addition of CHW home visits to clinic-based asthma education yielded a clinically important increase in symptom-free days and a modest improvement in caretaker quality of life.