Pediatric asthma continues to have a high prevalence rate, as well as short- term and long-term medical consequences, and disproportionately impacts minority children. Management is best accomplished by the family. However, traditional family-based educational programs often fail to meet the needs of African American and Latino families with low literacy and English proficiency levels. In Phase I, we propose to identify barriers to effective management by nonmainstream families and to develop a prototype "family- based asthma management/support system", targeted to children and caregivers, that integrates a Web-based education/support tool with print materials. Innovative features include: (1) "tailoring" content to the needs and cultural characteristics of nonmainstream groups; (2) using an innovative delivery approach - an interactive Web site. Phase I results will help define the parameters for the utility of the prototype system. Phase II will expand technologies of the prototype and include a comparative evaluation of the impact of the prototype on indicators of patient health status, adherence, and family coping. The family management support system produced during both Phases will become part of Abacus's HEALTH DECISION ADVANTAGE(TM) (HDA) tool kit to be marketed to integrated delivery systems, provider groups, and managed care organizations to address the needs of nonmainstream populations. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The goal of this Phase I proposal is to develop consumer-friendly and engineered family-based educational and support tools and systems to market to health care organizations. The prototype system produced in Phase I will become part of Abacus's HEALTH DECISION ADVANTAGE(TM) (HDA) tool kit. These tools are tailored to consumers with low levels of literacy, education, and English proficiency. Abacus has implemented a marketing plan for national distribution of HDA products in the United States.
