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Description
Abstract
Children are more vulnerable to asthmatic symptoms due to the physiological immaturity of their respiratory systems. Therefore, irritants are deemed more hazardous for the pediatric population. Pollution is a growing health concern, and within the literature review, several approaches to the measurement of the impact of low air quality and educational interventions are discussed. The themes identified in the literature review are increased risk of pollution-induced exacerbation due to age, behavior, and residential proximity to emission-producing facilities. The review of the literature demonstrated how pollution is a growing public health concern, especially among the pediatric population. Interventions, reviewed in the theme of behavior, showed decreased exacerbations following educational intervention. The purpose of this study is to increase health literacy in children to decrease asthmatic exacerbation. The proposal for further study will answer the research question: In children ages six to 12 years old with asthma attending schools near Fresno Yosemite International Airport, how does classroom education on air quality compared to no education affect the number of asthma exacerbations over seven weeks? A total of 42 participants will be selected to partake in this seven-week randomized controlled quantitative study. The research proposal utilized questionnaires and spirometry (FEV1) as tools to measure baseline asthmatic symptoms as well as week-to-week symptom assessment. The questionnaires used for this study are the ISAAC Questionnaire (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) (Asher et al., 1995) and The Asthma Control Questionnaire (Juniper et al., 1999). The expected result is to find a p-value of <0.05 to prove that educational intervention has a negative relationship to asthmatic exacerbations in children. Limitations identified in this study include a small pool of participants and the inability to determine potential bias, as the questionnaires are a take-home assignment.
Department
Nursing
Publication Date
Fall 2024
Sponsorship/Conference/Institution
Dominican University of California
City
San Rafael, CA
Keywords
Asthma; Pollution; School-children; Respiratory health; Emissions; Asthmatic; Respiratory Illness; Education; Elementary; Particulate Matter
Disciplines
Environmental Public Health | Pediatric Nursing | Respiratory Tract Diseases
Included in
Environmental Public Health Commons, Pediatric Nursing Commons, Respiratory Tract Diseases Commons