BACKGROUND: Despite significant medical advances, many ethnic and racial minority children who live in inner cities continue to experience disproportionately high levels of asthma morbidity and mortality compared with white children. As a result, a growing number of psychosocial asthma management interventions are being developed to address their needs; however, only a few of these interventions have incorporated cultural variables into their treatments and have had their efficacy evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To examine the efficacy of the multifamily asthma group treatment (MFAGT), designed to enhance asthma management and reduce emergency department (ED) visits among African American and Hispanic families. METHODS: Twenty-four African American and Hispanic families who have children with asthma were randomly assigned to either the MFAGT or the standard psychoeducational asthma intervention. Differences in the number of ED visits and the level of asthma management in both groups were compared 1 year before and 1 year after the intervention. In addition, these groups were contrasted to a control group that did not receive any psychoeducational intervention. RESULTS: The MFAGT was significantly (p = 0.04) more effective than the standard psychoeducational asthma intervention and the control in decreasing ED visits and increasing parental asthma knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest that the MFAGT is efficacious in enhancing asthma management and in reducing ED visits in inner-city African American and Hispanic children from a lower socioeconomic background.

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