Breathing Retraining for Asthma Trial of Home Exercises for Teenagers

A digital, self-management intervention for adolescents to control their asthma using breathing retraining. The mobile-friendly website provides information about asthma, how it affects the lungs, and how breathing patterns can be dysfunctional. Information is presented using short (30sec-2min) video clips featuring physiotherapists, researchers and adolescent role models. Users are given tips about their practice, including choosing a suitable time and place and building up gradually. Users can plan and log their practice and record their confidence in using the breathing techniques. There are 8 sessions including peer-led videos demonstrating breathing exercises with voiceovers and step-by-step instructions. All features and sessions can be accessed via a main dashboard where users can tailor the intervention to allow parental involvement, reminders and a preferred format for notifications (email/text). Other features include frequently asked questions (FAQs) and a progress chart.