This article summarizes the considerable progress that has been made in characterizing the behaviors of patients and family members that contribute to good or poor outcomes of asthma care and in developing educational programs shown to be effective in improving patient outcomes. Research needs are identified, including the need for better understanding of the antecedents of patient behaviors and their relative (quantitative) contribution to outcomes of asthma care of techniques to alter patient and family management behavior to improve outcomes, especially among particular patient subgroups are described. In addition, the asthma management practices of physicians are examined, such as the frequency with which recommended versus less desirable approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of asthma are used. Critical to this research was the development or refinement and the standardization of measures of individual patient behavior (including compliance behaviors), asthma morbidity, and utilization of medical services related to asthma.