TY - CHAP
T1 - Community-based interventions in asthma
AU - Croisant, Sharon Petronella
AU - Scott, Lauren
N1 - Funding Information:
A different type of networked initiative emerged from the Merck Childhood Asthma Network (MCAN), which was funded by the Merck Company Foundation and developed to provide evidence-based interventions in three, widely ranging settings, including schools, clinics, and communities in five program sites. This ambitious program employed multidisciplinary teams utilizing a translational approach to the interventions. While MCAN shared many similarities with other such coordinated efforts, an important distinction was its emphasis on rigorous evaluation not only of outcomes but also of the processes and infrastructure required for and barriers imposed by implementing clinical or research intervention protocols in the real world setting. Perhaps more importantly, lessons learned are being used to guide funding initiatives for future intervention research (Viswanathan et al. ; Ohadike et al. ).
Funding Information:
One of the earlier and arguably among the strongest community-based initiatives in combating asthma was a national program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Allies Against Asthma Initiative (Allies). The Allies program, directed by the University of Michigan School of Public Health from 2000 to 2006, supported the development of seven community-based coalitions in an effort to improve health care and coordination of efforts while also developing programs and resources that were site specific but could be adopted or adapted as best practices by other communities. An important contribution was the use of standardized tools to evaluate the coalitions as they evolved and their functionality (Clark et al. ).
Funding Information:
The Controlling Asthma in American Cities Project (CAACP), funded by the National Asthma Program of the National Center for Environmental Health within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was initiated in 2001. A complex and ambitious undertaking, also involving coalitions, the CAAAP was largely based upon the experience of the Allies program. The CAAP initiatives required integrating and coordinating multiple interventions at multiple levels. Based upon program theory, the CAAAP sought to establish community asthma coalitions that would include both professionals and community members, nurtured by external funding and access to expertise and resources including paid staff and technical assistance. Following a period of capacity-building, coalitions were expected to complete community needs assessments from multiple sources with a goal of developing community-specific asthma action plans involving coordinated efforts among community, change leaders, policy makers, and healthcare payers. Outcomes of interventions were to be rigorously monitored and evaluated for both process and efficacy, with plan revisions made accordingly. Each coalition was to target children with asthma and their families as well as healthcare providers, community-based organizations, healthcare systems and payers, and policy makers in order to effect environmental and psychosocial improvements (Herman ).
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Community and public health interventions provide potentially powerful means of decreasing morbidity, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and mortality from asthma. This chapter thus provides an overview of community-based interventions, which have been demonstrated to be effective-and/or ineffective- in reducing the burden of disease, including development of asthma coalitions, interventions for both provider and patient education, environmental controls to reduce exposure to asthma triggers, and institutional policy and systems change. Perhaps most important is the demonstrated effect of integrated, comprehensive approaches to asthma management and control. A multidisciplinary approach spanning T1 through T4 translational research, coupled with public health activities is promising and has already demonstrated success in reducing the burden of disease.
AB - Community and public health interventions provide potentially powerful means of decreasing morbidity, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and mortality from asthma. This chapter thus provides an overview of community-based interventions, which have been demonstrated to be effective-and/or ineffective- in reducing the burden of disease, including development of asthma coalitions, interventions for both provider and patient education, environmental controls to reduce exposure to asthma triggers, and institutional policy and systems change. Perhaps most important is the demonstrated effect of integrated, comprehensive approaches to asthma management and control. A multidisciplinary approach spanning T1 through T4 translational research, coupled with public health activities is promising and has already demonstrated success in reducing the burden of disease.
KW - Asthma coalitions
KW - Community asthma interventions
KW - Environmental control of asthma triggers
KW - Integrated approaches to asthma control
KW - Provider and patient education
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U2 - 10.1007/978-1-4614-8603-9_7
DO - 10.1007/978-1-4614-8603-9_7
M3 - Chapter
C2 - 24162905
AN - SCOPUS:84934440258
SN - 9781461486022
T3 - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
SP - 105
EP - 115
BT - Heterogeneity in Asthma
PB - Springer New York LLC
ER -