African Americans Want a Focus on Shared Decision-Making in Asthma Adherence Interventions

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) reduce asthma-related morbidity and mortality. However, ICS non-adherence is more common in African American (AA) adults than White adults and explains, in part, the marked asthma disparities that AAs experience. We aimed to understand how ICS non-adherence could be addressed from the perspective of AA adults with asthma, their family, and friends.

We held six focus groups at two urban federally qualified health centers separately with adult asthma patients (n = 2), patients' family/friends (n = 2), and patients and family/friends together (n = 2). Qualitative descriptive methodology guided the design and the conduct of focus groups. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed by three coders working independently using conventional content analysis to capture responses to interview questions and identify emergent categories.

Forty-six AA adults participated (32 patients, 14 family/friends); 67% were female. Participants stated that ICS adherence could be improved if they were heard, respected, and received patient-centered care, and if providers highlighted the risk of ICS non-adherence at clinic visits. Though not explicitly described by participants as shared decision-making (SDM), what they described included many essential elements of SDM.

Participants desired SDM and offered reasons for ICS non-adherence that could be used to inform an SDM intervention for clinical application. Strategies informed by the recipients of care and delivered by providers during routine office visits offer a scalable approach to narrowing asthma disparities experienced by AA adults.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03036267.