Asthma Management Academy (AsMA)
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) presents the Asthma Management Academy (AsMA). AsMA is a unique set of trainings for
community health workers (CHWs) and other health educators. It's purpose is to reduce the burden of asthma in California's most highly impacted communities.
Background
AsMA's curriculum meets the unique needs of health educators on the asthma care team. These include CHWs, promotores de salud, health or patient advocates, and others with trusted relationships who provide self-management education to or visit the homes of those in underserved areas.
CDPH is offering the AsMA curriculum as a series of in-person training modules for these valued members of the asthma care team. AsMA's goal is to prepare a community workforce to conduct asthma self-management education as outlined in the
National Asthma Education and Prevention Program's Expert Panel 3 Report (PDF); deliver evidence-based interventions that may eventually be Medi-Cal reimbursed; and improve health outcomes for individuals with asthma.
AsMA's curriculum provides qualifying health workers and educators with free skill-building sessions. Sessions are focused on adult learners and build skills, knowledge, and competency to help people with asthma manage their disease. All AsMA curricula are based on
the National Asthma Guidelines and adapted by the Association of Asthma
Educators (AAE), CDPH, and asthma home-visiting community-based organizations.
Certified Asthma Educators (AE-Cs) and CDPH-certified CHWs will teach the sessions based on adult learning theory. This theory uses a problem-based approach in a collaborative setting. Trainers will use multiple tools to teach participants through discussion, videos, and skill-building activities.
AsMA 101 Series
AsMA 101 is based on the Asthma Education for the Community Health Worker curriculum, developed by the Association of Asthma Educators. This interactive 5-module series covers the following topics:
- The Scope of Asthma
- Asthma Trigger Identification
- Asthma Medications
- Medication Delivery Devices
- Monitoring and Assessing Asthma Control
Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion from CDPH and the Association of Asthma Educators after completing the series. They will also have ongoing technical assistance and an asthma education tool kit.
The curriculum covered in this course is reinforced in the AsMA Learning Videos available below.
AsMA 101
Educational Videos
Click on an image of an AsMA video below to go directly to that video in English or Spanish.
AsMA Webinar Series
In 2019, AsMA hosted monthly webinars for Community Health Workers (CHWs) and health education staff on important asthma topics. Visit our
Achieving Asthma Control Webinar Series web page to see the videos.
AsMA 201 covers:
- How to Conduct an In-Home Asthma Trigger Assessment
- Best Practices for Home Visiting
CDPH-certified CHW trainers deliver the two sessions and participants will receive a Certificate of Completion from CDPH.
Additional Resources
The AsMA hosted a six-webinar series for CHWs and health educators about topics related to asthma control and self-management education, featuring both clinical and CHW subject matter experts (SMEs). Please visit the AsMA youtube page to view these recorded webinars:
Contact
If you are interested in the AsMA for your CHW or health educator program, please contact California.Breathing@cdph.ca.gov or Ashley Kissinger, AE-C, at (510) 620-3644.
CDPH is registering for sessions in California's Central Valley and will consider registrations for other California areas if resources allow.
Please share these promotional flyers
If you are having difficulty accessing these documents please contact CDPH at California.Breathing@cdph.ca.gov to request this information in an alternate format.
Testimonials by CHWs
Read three CHWs' testimonials here.
Funding
AsMA is a project of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). AsMA was developed by CDPH with funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC-RFA-EH14-140407CONT15) and the CA Proposition 99 Tobacco Tax.