RVA Breathes: A Richmond City Collaboration to Reduce Pediatric Asthma Disparities

Summary

The goal of this study is to evaluate a sustainable, community-engaged program to reduce asthma disparities among 5 to 11-year-old children in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond, an urban center, has been named the Asthma Capital, or "most challenging place to live in the U.S. with asthma," by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation three times in the last 5 years. To date, however, the city has no comprehensive, community-engaged asthma care program for those children at highest risk for poor asthma outcomes. To address this disparity, the study team engaged with community partners and completed a mixed-methods needs assessment to enhance understanding of the barriers and supports to asthma care for children and their families living in Richmond. Several key priority areas emerged: peer support, advocacy, treating the home as a system, increased school nurse education, and coordination with schools and providers. Working together, the community-engaged team translated needs assessment findings to RVA Breathes, a program coordinating asthma care across 4 sectors: family, home, community, and medical care.

Conditions

• Asthma

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

School

CHWs will ensure that families submit required health paperwork (e.g., asthma action plan, medication release form) and confirm with school nurses that children have the appropriate medications. School nurses will be given a standardized protocol to follow with clear guidelines for caring for students with asthma. The CHW assigned to the family will work with the school nurse to ensure that communication with the medical provider is occurring.

BEHAVIORAL

Asthma education

CHWs will deliver evidence-based asthma education to parents and children. Content is drawn from existing asthma management programs, and adapted for families in Richmond. Between sessions, CHWs will call parents at least monthly to check in and assess family asthma management, including healthcare utilization since the last contact.

BEHAVIORAL

Home environmental remediation

Healthy Homes will complete home-based environmental assessments using evidence-based protocols. Healthy Homes will provide real-time education and share information about their findings and recommendations for action. Families are provided with low-cost intervention materials (e.g., filters, pillow covers), as well as behavioral modifications to aid in the reduction of asthma triggers in the home.

BEHAVIORAL

Informational mail

Family will be mailed publicly available asthma information every 3 months.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

  collaborator NIH

• Virginia Commonwealth University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Robin Everhart, PhD · Virginia Commonwealth University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

5 Years

Max Age

11 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-05-31

Primary Completion

2022-06-30

Completion

2022-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations