REDUCTION OF SECONDARY SMOKE EXPOSURE IN ASTHMATIC-CHILDREN - PARENT COUNSELING

Epidemiological evidence shows that children's exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke increases their risk of respiratory illness. This study evaluated five families and their asthmatic children (aged 5-14 years) in an outpatient counseling program for reducing the children's expos ure to passive smoking. Intervention included biweekly counseling/inst ructions for parents to limit their children's tobacco exposure. A mul tiple-baseline, quasiexperimental design was used for self-reported me asures of the children's smoke exposure and the parents' smoking frequ ency. Counseling was associated with smoke exposure reduction of 40-80 % from baseline for each of 5 children, with most improvements sustain ed during follow-up. This study provides support for the development o f tobacco exposure prevention programs for children with pulmonary dis ease.