The purpose of the research was to

The purpose of the research was to develop, implement, and evaluate a new adult asthma
self-management program with a multidisciplinary perspective. Small groups of adults met
for 2 hr for 7 consecutive weekly meetings. Participants were asked to practice asthma specific
behaviors (including peak expiratory flow monitoring, avoidance/removal of asthma
triggers, and controller medication adherence) and general lifestyle behaviors (including
drinking water, practicing relaxation, washing hands, and exercising). Learner-centered
teaching techniques such as interactive communication and social support were utilized to
help participants practice self-management behaviors including problem-solving and
goal-setting. Paired sample t-tests included statistically significant improvements in asthma
knowledge, asthma specific quality of life (QOL), asthma specific behaviors such as peak
flow monitoring and general life style behaviors such as frequency of daily exercise. These
results provide evidence that this new adult asthma self-management program can lead to
both knowledge acquisition and behavioral changes