The Roaring Adventures of Puff (RAP): A Childhood Asthma Education Program

Implemented in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by MAS Consultants Inc., P.O. Box 5130 Aiken, South Carolina 29804.

The Roaring Adventures of Puff (RAP): Program Components

The educational package is titled Roaring Adventures of Puff: Childhood Asthma Education Program. The contents are outlined below.

Introduction

Describes program aims for children with asthma and for the community. Lists the program components. Outlines the development process used to construct RAP. Details instructor qualification requirements, and names all the components of the instructor (train-the-trainer) course.

Planning

Assists RAP instructors with preparations for implementing RAP in their communities. Provides assessment forms, charts for tracking contacts, and strategies for planning and implementing health education programs based on the experience of others. Provides examples for working with the media and writing funding proposals.

Teaching Strategies

Suggests ideas for working with children and the process of educating children, whose learning needs differ from those of adults. Discusses strategies for feedback that gives the children ideas for improvement without criticism. Addresses physical, mental, adaptive, and personal and social development issues related to working with children of various ages.

Parent and Teacher Asthma Awareness Event

Provides the information a RAP instructor needs to plan, schedule, and facilitate a 1-2 hour meeting for adults to inform them of the basics of asthma, school issues and asthma, and an introduction to the RAP education program for children with asthma. Provides copies of the overhead slide presentation for the event and a listing of all supplies needed to carry out the event.

Education and Evaluation Tools

Provides forms and other tools to assist the RAP instructor in implementing RAP, including contact information forms used to identify the families and progress records (attendance, session progress, participant issues log, copies of parents’ and children’s questionnaire, Asthma Action Plan Diary, and Fun Book).

RAP Sessions (Six 60-minute classes)

Session 1: Introducing Puff, the dino with asthma
Getting to know each other, goal setting (when each child decides what play, activities, or sports they would like to be able to do – the responses make up their "wish list"), use of a peak flow meter, and diary monitoring.

Session 2: What Makes Your Asthma Worse?
Trigger identification, control, and avoidance. Basic pathophysiology using airway models to demonstrate how air moves in and out of healthy lungs and lungs affected by asthma.

Session 3: Which Medications Are Which?
Controller and reliever medications. The mechanics of the airways, proper use of the inhaler, and correct use of medications (another treasure to help attain the child’s wish). Avoidance of asthma triggers.

Session 4: Do You Know Your Warning Signs?
Asthma symptom recognition and action plan, knowing the warning signs become an important asthma treasure. Review the asthma severity zones and peak flow numbers. Actions to take in each zone.

Session 5: How Does Asthma Affect Your Lifestyle?
Participant descriptions of how asthma makes them feel. Help with controlling their asthma to overcome those feelings. Management of situations that present exacerbation risks such as visiting a friend whose father is a smoker, preparing for a roller-blade race, attending school with some asthma symptoms, and helping a friend who has had an asthma attack.

Session 6: RAP it up – Review and Show Off for Parents and Teachers
Children perform a skit, sing a song, or read a poem that shows what they have learned about asthma and how to control it. An asthma jeopardy game can be used as well. Children who brought their activity book to all sessions are presented a prize. Certificates of completion are awarded to each child.

Optional Activities

Provides additional games and activities, including many for use with older children.

Follow-up and Evaluation

Includes three course evaluation forms, one each for use by the instructor, parents, and children.

Asthma Information

Contains recommendations for an asthma-friendly school policy and examples of such, summary of recommendations from the Canadian Asthma Consensus Report, 1999, What to Do if a Child has an Asthma Attack.

Implementing this program requires: 1) that instructors are health care professionals; 2) that instructors attend the 2-day RAP train-the-trainer course; and 3) the purchase cost for the program of $300, which covers the cost of the train-the-trainer course.