Welcome to the website of the Triple A (Adolescent Asthma Action) program!
What is the Triple A program?
Triple A is an award winning, internationally acclaimed peer education program that improves asthma self-management in young people and creates a supportive school environment for asthma.
How does the Triple A program work?
Triple A Educator’s, usually trained university students or asthma educators conduct a workshop for senior high school students (Asthma Peer Leaders) about asthma and its management. The Asthma Peer Leaders then educate their younger peers about asthma, who in turn disseminate the asthma messages to the broader school community. Triple A is based on empowerment education and Social Learning Theory and uses a variety of strategies including videos, games, role-plays and quiz shows to make the program informative and fun. Why do we need the Triple A program?
Asthma is an important health problem in Australia. We have one of the highest rates of asthma in the world: between 14% and 16% of children and between 10% and 12% of adults have asthma. Has the Triple A program been tested?
The program has undergone formative, impact and outcome evaluations and the results have been published in peer-reviewed journals. The findings are clear: Triple A is well received by students and staff in urban and rural schools, and it improves student quality of life and level of physical activity while decreasing asthma attacks and missed days from school.
More than 22,000 high school students have received the Triple A Program from both rural and metropolitan schools in Australia. Participating in the Triple A train the trainer program is recommended.
Resources
- A DVD with three educational short films – Breath of Life, Running Short (winner of two International Motion Media awards) and Breathe Easy.
- A CD containing Triple A Peer Leaders Manual, Triple A Trainers Manual, handouts, slide presentations and a brochure.
- Printed copies, sponsored by Brother printing can be obtained from the Primary Health Care Education and Research Unit.
The three short films are available for download:
For further information or to access the resources above, please contact Dr Smita Shah on 0423 000 170 or use our online form.