Development and Evaluation of an Adult Asthma Self-Management Program: Wheezers Anonymous

The efficacy of an adult asthma self-management program, Wheezers Anonymous (WA), was tested utilizing 79 adult asthmatic patients. Subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment or waiting-list control group. Baseline data gathered included measures of symptom severity, health-care utilization, knowledge of asthma, attitudes about asthma, and self-efficacy. All subjects completed the same measures 1, 2, and 3 months following the WA intervention. Knowledge about asthma increased in the treatment group relative to the waiting-list controls; the number of attacks decreased in the treatment group only, thus demonstrating the efficacy of the WA program.