Youths with asthma and their experiences of self-management education: A systematic review of qualitative evidence.
Karen McTague, Geraldine Prizeman, Stephen Shelly and 2 others
PMID 36239214WHAT IT FOUND
Youths with asthma described education as often telling them to take medication without explaining why, when or what to do.
They wanted to speak in consultations, and saw phone reminders and symptom tracking as helpful if engaging and trustworthy.
Key findings
01Youths described a gap between self-management education and daily life: they were told to take medication, but did not always understand why, when or how to act, and often felt their views were not heard.
02Youths were open to phones, reminders and symptom tracking, but wanted technology to be engaging, interactive, trustworthy and able to build confidence rather than simply available.
03Youths described emotional, social and support burdens of asthma, including fear, embarrassment and reliance on peers and family, and said education rarely addressed these.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review synthesizes qualitative experiences, so it cannot show that any education method, app or nurse-led advice improves asthma control or adherence. The included studies were qualitative and heterogeneous, using interviews, focus groups, observation and participatory workshops across several countries. Only 50% of studies located the researcher culturally or theoretically, and only 33% stated the researcher's influence on the research. The review was limited to English-language studies and excluded school settings, so it may not cover all contexts where youths learn asthma self-management. The authors note much of the research involved younger teens, so evidence for the 15 to 24 year youth group is not evenly distributed.
Declared interests
The authors confirm there are no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that asthma education, apps or nurse-led advice improve asthma control or adherence. The review synthesizes youths' experiences from qualitative studies and did not test an intervention or report clinical outcomes.