One-Year Outcomes from a Computer-Based Disease Management Program: The Individualized Asthma Care Training Program (IACT ® )

Abstract

The Individualized Asthma Care Training (IACT^®) program is a 12-month, one-on-one in-home training and education program for adults with severe or uncontrolled asthma. Patients at a university hospital's outpatient clinic and members of a health plan who had had a minimum of one hospitalization or two or more emergency department visits in the previous year were invited to participate. Trained healthcare professionals worked with these individuals to help them learn about asthma, improve their disease monitoring and management skills, and encourage them to become partners with their physician in their own healthcare. In addition, trainers conducted an environmental assessment of participants' homes with the participants' help. Trainers used a computer software application, which contained asthma educational materials including prompts for the trainer and video clips. Additionally, the software was used to recruit and track patients and to collect outcomes data. Forty individuals completed the program and provided baseline and 12-month data. These individuals are included in this analysis. Participants reported statistically significant increases in functional status and productivity and decreases in the number of days absent from work or school due to asthma. There were improvements in health-related quality of life and in satisfaction with healthcare for asthma. Finally, there were statistically significant reductions in the mean number of days hospitalized and in the number of individuals who reported being hospitalized for asthma.