As the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) presents a morbidity and cost burden on the U.S. health care system and its workforce. This Phase II SBIR project will result in a multimedia product providing education and self-care skills training for patients with COPD. Understanding and Living with COPD TM will combine audio, video, graphics and text to present information in such a way as to create an interesting and substantive learning experience. The project goal is to fill a patient education need by providing an interactive vehicle that helps patients learn about COPD, address health and lifestyle consequences and develop self-care skills for managing the disease. In Phase II, we will use information gathered in the Phase I research to refine content and interactive tools and will research and produce the remaining content, interactive tools and assets for the CD-ROM. The complete CDKOM will be produced and tested for effectiveness with attendees of pulmonary rehabilitation programs in a randomized field test in two locations: Washington, DC, metropolitan area and Buffalo, NY. In Phase IN, the product will be launched commercially.
