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Using community priorities and misconceptions about asthma as a vessel for community-led education among Hispanics
Sonia N Jacome1, Christian Lopez-Padilla2, Danielle Madera1
1Department of Medicine, Division of Health Services Research, Center for Health Innovations and Outcomes Research, Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY, USA.
Insights
Hispanic communities in New York City show higher asthma rates. A tailored educational program, using community leaders and culturally relevant materials, significantly improved asthma knowledge in participants.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Disparities
- Community Health Education
Background:
- Asthma prevalence is disproportionately high among Hispanic populations in New York City.
- Limited asthma education contributes to disparities in asthma management within the Hispanic community.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address asthma knowledge gaps in the Hispanic community using Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR).
- To develop and evaluate a culturally tailored asthma educational tool, the Asthma Training Modules (ATMs).
Main Methods:
- Conducted educational asthma workshops over three years (2016-2018) to inform ATM development.
- Trained 6 Asthma-Community-Leaders to deliver asthma education using the ATMs and an Asthma Educational Card (AEC).
- Assessed changes in asthma knowledge through pre- and post-questionnaires for 104 participants.
Main Results:
- Identified key asthma priorities and misconceptions among Hispanics, focusing on resources, symptom recognition, and treatments.
- Participants' mean asthma knowledge score increased significantly from 64% to 85% post-intervention (p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
- Community-led asthma education, incorporating tailored tools and local leaders, effectively enhanced asthma knowledge among Hispanics.
- Further research is needed to validate these findings in larger cohorts and compare intervention effectiveness against other educational approaches.
Objectives:
In New York City, asthma prevalence is greater in Hispanics than non-Hispanics for both children (10.9% vs. 7.4%) and adults (9.0% vs. 6.3%). Disparities in asthma management among Hispanics are found to arise, in part, from a limited education about asthma. Using elements of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), we worked with the community to identify asthma priorities and misconceptions among Hispanics and used that information to develop a tailored asthma educational tool-the Asthma Training Modules (ATMs).
Methods:
Over the past 3 years (2016, 2017, and 2018), we conducted educational asthma workshops to collect and analyze information to develop the ATMs and a summary of the ATMs in an Asthma Educational Card (AEC). We trained 6 Asthma-Community-Leaders using the ATMs, who assembled community members for teaching sessions using the AEC. Participants completed a pre-and-post asthma knowledge questionnaire.
Results:
We identified asthma priorities and misconceptions themed on: culturally relevant resources for Hispanics, symptom and trigger recognition, and treatments. A total of 104 participants attended the teaching sessions led by Asthma-Community-Leaders and participants' mean knowledge score increased from 64% pre-teaching to 85% post-teaching, (p < 0.01).
Conclusion:
Our community-led education, which included a tailored asthma educational tool and trained Asthma-Community-Leaders, successfully improved asthma knowledge among Hispanics. Further studies are warranted to determine whether these results are reproducible among a larger cohort and what the comparative effectiveness of our intervention as compared to other education-based interventions.
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