Does Health Hoops Kentucky improve the health of children with asthma?

DOES HEALTH HOOPS KENTUCKY IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN WITH ASTHMA? Yu-Ting Chen, M.P.H. November 12,2010 Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children aged 7 to 17 years of age in the United States. An average, one of every ten school-aged children has asthma, and 13 million school days are missed each year due to asthma. Interventions to prevent or reduce the severity of asthma and to improve the quality of life among children and their families include the implementation of clinical practice guidelines, asthma care quality improvement programs, community preventive services, and other communitybased approaches. The Healthy Hoops platform was used to evaluate the quality of life of children with asthma. This was first time a Healthy Hoops event was held in Kentucky and the first time quality of life was assessed at a Healthy Hoops event. Children and their parents/guardians attended the Healthy Hoops Kentucky event, in which each child received an asthma action plan. In addition, unique to Healthy Hoops Kentucky event, the quality oflife of the child and their parent/guardian was assessed using Juniper's valid and reliable instruments The thesis had three distinct study aims (1) to examine the quality of life of children with asthma as well as their parents' quality of life via the healthy hoops platform,