Effective and Sustainable Multimedia Education for Children With Asthma: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Abstract Traditional asthma education has been found to be time-consuming and limited in terms of availability. Our goal was to improve asthma care by meeting special needs of children with asthma and by building on their skills in using new technologies. Multimedia asthma education occurred through the viewing of short, animated vignettes on an exam room computer. Evaluation of 228 children showed significant improvement in days of asthma symptoms (p ??.01), in emergency room visits (p ??.05), in school days missed (p ??.05), and in days of activity limitation from baseline to the year-end follow-up (p ??.05). Effective multimedia education, if integrated into pediatric practice to supplement existing asthma care, can improve clinical outcomes.