Steps to Better Breathing
Steps to Better Breathing, developed by Steps to a Healthier Rockland, is an asthma home care program built upon evidence-based best practices in childhood asthma management. The purpose of the program is to educate children and their families to better manage their asthma symptoms to reduce the frequency of asthma attacks, school absenteeism, emergency room visits and hospitalizations. The program is also available to meet the needs of non-English speaking families.
The Steps to Better Breathing received national recognition from the National Association of Counties. Click here to view the award certificate.
The Home Care Visits:
The participatory program should consists of three, 1-2 hour home care visits by a trained health care professional, typically a nurse or nurse practitioner. As part of the program, families are educated about triggers, proper asthma management and the use of medications. Trigger mitigating supplies such as Spacers, Peak Flow Meters, anti-allergen cleaning supplies, anti-allergy covers (pillow, boxspring and mattress) may be available through the Rockland County Department of Health. The home care provider assists in the development of an “Asthma Action Plan” which is shared with the child’s physician and school nurse.
The Steps to Better Breathing received national recognition from the National Association of Counties. Click here to view the award certificate.
The Home Care Visits:
The participatory program should consists of three, 1-2 hour home care visits by a trained health care professional, typically a nurse or nurse practitioner. As part of the program, families are educated about triggers, proper asthma management and the use of medications. Trigger mitigating supplies such as Spacers, Peak Flow Meters, anti-allergen cleaning supplies, anti-allergy covers (pillow, boxspring and mattress) may be available through the Rockland County Department of Health. The home care provider assists in the development of an “Asthma Action Plan” which is shared with the child’s physician and school nurse.
Program Evaluation:
To evaluate the program, children over the age of five and their parents are surveyed at visit 1 and visit 3 using two evaluation tools; one assesses knowledge and comfort in managing asthma and the other measures asthma control during the past two weeks.
Results from the first two years of the program were analyzed using two-tailed paired sample t-tests. Respondents (n=85) demonstrated significant positive changes on items related to understanding of their asthma (all items on the parent survey and 6 of 9 items on the child survey). In addition, respondents reported significantly reduced inhaler use, sleep disruption and activity limitation in the previous two weeks. Click here for evaluation results.
To evaluate the program, children over the age of five and their parents are surveyed at visit 1 and visit 3 using two evaluation tools; one assesses knowledge and comfort in managing asthma and the other measures asthma control during the past two weeks.
Results from the first two years of the program were analyzed using two-tailed paired sample t-tests. Respondents (n=85) demonstrated significant positive changes on items related to understanding of their asthma (all items on the parent survey and 6 of 9 items on the child survey). In addition, respondents reported significantly reduced inhaler use, sleep disruption and activity limitation in the previous two weeks. Click here for evaluation results.
