Training Health Care Providers to Conduct Adherence Promotion in Pediatric Settings: An Example With Pediatric Asthma

This study described the development, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness of an adherence promotion intervention delivered by pediatric health care providers and facilitated by pediatric psychologists to children and adolescents ages 5–14 years with asthma and their caregivers (N = 6). Individual time-series analyses indicated that the intervention was associated with enhanced adherence to daily inhaled corticosteroids. Moreover, the intervention (e.g., feedback to children and parents concerning treatment adherence based on electronic monitoring and problem solving concerning barriers to adherence promotion) was shown to be feasible for delivery in routine follow-up care for asthma and acceptable to families. Findings of this pilot study demonstrated the effectiveness of provider-based adherence promotion to promote adherence to treatment in pediatric asthma. Future research should replicate these findings with larger samples of children with asthma and focus on enhancing the sustainability of treatment adherence over time. Collaborative adherence promotion interventions developed by pediatric psychologists and pediatric subspecialists have the potential to advance clinical practice.