Séjour éducatif pour enfants asthmatiques en Ardèche : un programme innovant

Asthma is children's foremost chronic disease. If the medicinal progress is unambiguous, therapeutic education as well as rehabilitation efforts are integral parts of asthmatic children's global care. Initiated and proposed by the Association asthme et allergies, a protocol that defines place, dates, purposes and means, received the agreement of the French ministry for Youth and Sports. Thirteen children (eight boys, five girls, with an average age of eleven) who suffer from persistent asthma, from moderate to severe and/or exercise-induced asthma, were selected by two Parisian hospitals. The children spent fourteen days on vacation in Ardèche (altitude, 1400 m) during the month of July and were supervised by a medical and an animation team. Motivating children to engage in sports activities and strengthening therapeutic education trained in asthma's schools (écoles de l’asthme) were the dual purpose of the stay. An educational diagnosis and an evaluation of the knowledge of each child were realized at the beginning and at the end of the stay. A flexible program was set up and combined outdoor games, role-playing, educational workshops on breathing, techniques of inhalation and measurement of breath… associated with tests and coupled with physical or sportive activities practiced individually or collectively. Climatic conditions did not provoke any asthma attack or intercurrent affection. The questionnaire dispensed at the end of the stay reveals the children's global satisfaction. In terms of health, preliminary results are promising, particularly regarding their aerobic capacity and physical performances. A medium-term evaluation is in progress, but consequences of this experience – shared by children coming from different social milieus and in a less polluted environment – seem to confirm the interest for promoting educational and sportive stays supervised by health professionals specialized in therapeutic education and spent in specific places which correspond to the standards of allergens’ eviction.