Asthma is a highly prevalent chronic disease that disproportionately impacts African American (AA) women. AA women have poorer asthma-related quality of life and higher rates of asthma exacerbations, healthcare utilization and mortality compared to Caucasian women. Further, AA women are less physically active than any other subgroup of adults, which may help explain the asthma health disparities, found between AA and Caucasian women. Physical inactivity among individuals with asthma is associated with poor asthma control and respiratory function, greater health care utilization, and poorer quality of life. Given the connection between poor asthma outcomes and physical inactivity, addressing physical activity (PA) among sedentary AA women with asthma is imperative. Physical activity demonstrated improvement in asthma outcomes specifically asthma control, quality of life and healthcare utilization. Despite these benefits, fewer than 25% of AA women with asthma engage in regular physical activity. The ACTION intervention: physicAl aCtiviTy In minOrity womeN with asthma is a 8-month community-based walking intervention refined to be applicable for sedentary AA women with asthma. This application proposes to obtain and incorporate stakeholder input on the barriers and facilitators to engaging in physical activity with asthma to a validated community-based walking intervention. Once modified, we will pre-pilot the intervention in 10 participants, refine further in response to participant feedback and then test the feasibility, acceptability and estimate the efficacy of the intervention in a randomized controlled pilot of 80 participants within a pragmatic community setting convenient for sedentary AA women. Through coursework, hands-on experience and strong mentorship this project will provide the dedicated candidate with the necessary skills to become an independent investigator and build an impactful research program on designing and implementing health promotion interventions to improve asthma outcomes in minority populations.
Physical inactivity in asthma is associated with worse asthma outcomes and African American women are disproportionately impacted by both physical inactivity and asthma. Research aimed at addressing the unique asthma-related and cultural-specific barriers to physical activity in this vulnerable population of women is needed. The proposed study will modify a validated community-based walking intervention specific to the needs of sedentary African American women with asthma and evaluate the impact of the intervention on physical activity and asthma specific indicators to reduce the burden of asthma in sedentary African American women.
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