THE "ROARING ADVENTURES OF PUFF" (RAP)

A community based childhood asthma teaching program.

For more on the RAP program, click here.

Check out RAP online underdevelopment!

RAP, a children's education program for asthma was developed by the Centre to fill a recognized gap in up-to-date, cognitively appropriate education program for children with asthma. We described the program and the cognitive theories upon which it is based in a publication (McGhan et al., 1998).

RAP is a comprehensive, interactive program for children ages 7 to 12 years, and has been well received by hundreds of children in health regions across Alberta, as well as in other major cities across Canada .

•  RAP continues to be the main educational intervention used in studies in 170 Ontario schools as part of the Public Health School Asthma Pilot Project.

•  RAP has been an integral process of the Creating Asthma Friendly Schools Project.

•  A randomized control study, funded by Alberta Heritage Fund for Medical Research, was conducted in 42 schools in Northern Alberta . The outcome of this research study showed that children who had taken the RAP program missed fewer school days, had fewer unscheduled doctor visits, reduced limitation in activities and improved asthma self management.

•  Future: We are currently developing RAP online and are anxious to extend this to children with asthma, as well as to the instructor community.