Talking Card for Asthma

The research goal is to explore the use and effects of a custom-recordable audio discharge instruction card (Talking Card) in the pediatric health care setting. This study will address a primary, experimental research question: can pediatric asthma control be improved through the distribution of a custom-recorded audio asthma instruction card to parents at the health provider's office? Secondary, descriptive objectives will be to evaluate feasibility of Talking Card delivery and to collect and summarize parental reactions to the design and use of the audio discharge instruction card.

The specific aims of this study are:

1. To compare the change in mean Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) scores for children aged 4 through 11 years with uncontrolled asthma receiving a custom-recorded asthma instruction card to the change in mean C-ACT scores for those receiving usual care.
2. To measure the use and impressions of a custom-recordable audio asthma discharge instruction card among primary caregivers of children with uncontrolled asthma through quantitative and qualitative survey questions.

The investigators hypothesize that:

1) Asthma control in children 4 through 11 years of age with uncontrolled asthma, as measured by the C-ACT, will improve to a greater extent among those receiving a custom-recordable audio discharge instruction card than among those receiving usual care.