Preliterate Children’s Perceptions of Asthma and Preferred Entertainment Elements

Childhood asthma is a growing societal problem that causes suffering for children and families. Short of finding a cure, the best way to address this problem is to give children with asthma the resources they need to control their condition. Unfortunately, research and resources for young children with asthma are lacking. The authors hypothesize that an approach using technology based delivery methods to provide age-appropriate education, which promotes self-regulation and includes psychosocial elements, could help children with asthma decrease exacerbations in the short term and establish healthy habits in the long term. To lay the groundwork for the initial investigation of this hypothesis, the authors reviewed the literature for three elements: audience (children with asthma), content (self-regulation and psychosocial elements), and media (mobile technology applications and digital story). Literature was reviewed for children’s beliefs about illness and medication, self-regulation versus self- management, the psychosocial elements of parental support and peer influences, technology and education, clinical computer-based education, electronic educational games, and smartphone applications. The gaps in the literature found regarding these topics point to areas where future research would be instructive for designing effective, technology based applications for children with asthma. To produce the most effective asthma education materials for children, all three elements in this literature review—audience, content, and medium—should be investigated in future research studies.