Structured Nursing Intervention for Adults With Poorly Controlled Asthma: A Pilot Study

Summary

Asthma affects a large number of adults, and many of them do not achieve good control of their symptoms. Poor inhaler technique, irregular medication use, and the lack of structured nursing follow-up are among the main reasons. RESPiraIA-Asma is a 12-month structured nursing intervention designed to address these gaps in adults with poorly controlled, non-severe asthma.

This is a quasi-experimental, single-group, before-and-after pilot study. Each participant is followed across six visits over one year, at baseline and at months 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12. The intervention combines therapeutic education, inhaler technique training, home peak-flow self-monitoring, biopsychosocial assessment, and a standardized nursing care plan based on internationally recognized nursing taxonomies for diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes: NANDA International (NANDA-I), Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC), and Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC), activated by objective clinical thresholds.

A central principle of the model is digital equity: the same standard of care is offered through three equivalent access routes (digital, mixed, or in-person), chosen according to each participant's digital skills, resources, and preferences, so that technology never becomes a barrier to access.

The study evaluates whether the model is feasible to deliver in routine clinical practice, measured through participant retention, data completeness, and acceptability, and it looks for preliminary signals of its effect on asthma control, treatment adherence, lung function, and biopsychosocial well-being. As an exploratory pilot, it is not designed to confirm efficacy; its purpose is to inform the design of a larger future trial.

Conditions

• Asthma
• Medication Adherence
• Self-management

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

RESPiraIA-Asma

Structured nursing intervention of 12 months organized in three operational cores (administrative, clinical, and nursing) and delivered across six visits. It combines therapeutic education, inhaler technique training with the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) checklist, home peak-flow self-monitoring, biopsychosocial assessment, and a standardized care plan based on the NANDA International (NANDA-I), Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC), and Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) taxonomies, activated by objective clinical thresholds. Treatment adherence is monitored through the triangulation of the Asthma Control Test (ACT), the Test of Adherence to Inhalers (TAI), and the Medication Possession Ratio (MPR). Follow-up and the deterministic care logic run in REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Instituto de Salud Carlos III

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

  collaborator OTHER

• Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria San Carlos (IdISSC)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Hospital San Carlos, Madrid

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-10-31

Primary Completion

2029-04-30

Completion

2029-09-30

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations