Relationships of asthma knowledge, self-management, and social support in African American adolescents with asthma

Despite nationwide efforts to manage asthma, the adverse outcomes of asthma continue to increase, especially in African American adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among asthma knowledge, self-management, and social support in African American adolescents with asthma. A correlational descriptive study was conducted using a convenience sample of 53 identified asthmatic adolescents from the Southern metropolitan school system in Alabama. Asthma knowledge was measured by the Parcel Knowledge about Asthma Questionnaire, social support by the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, and asthma self-management behaviors by the Asthma Behavioral Assessment Questionnaire. Both asthma knowledge and social support had significant positive relationships (r=0.31, r=0.30, respectively) with asthma self-management behaviors and accounted for 14% of self-management behaviors variability. Further studies are needed to understand how to better manage asthma in adolescents.