Racial and ethnic minority youth have poorer asthma status than Caucasian youth, even after controlling for socioeconomic variables. Proper use of asthma controller medications is critical in reducing asthma mortality and morbidity. The clinical consequences of poor asthma management include increased illness complications, excessive functional morbidity, and fatal asthma attacks. There are significant limitations in research on interventions to improve asthma management in racial minority populations, particularly minority adolescents and young adults, though illness management tends to deteriorate after adolescence during emerging adulthood, the unique developmental period beyond adolescence but before adulthood. All elements of the proposed study protocol were piloted in an NHLBI-funded pilot study (1R34HL107664-01A1 MacDonell). Results suggested feasibility and acceptability of the study protocol as well as proof of concept. We are now ready to test the intervention in a larger randomized clinical trial. The proposed study will include 192 African American emerging adults with moderate to severe persistent asthma and low controller medication adherence recruited from clinic and emergency department settings. Half of the sample will be randomized to receive a multi-component technology-based intervention (MCTI) targeting adherence to daily controller medication. The MCTI consists of two components: 1) 2 sessions of computer-delivered motivational interviewing targeting medication adherence, and 2) individualized text messaging focused on medication adherence between the sessions. Text messages will be individualized based on Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). The remaining half of participants will complete a series of computer-delivered asthma education modules matched for length, location, and method of delivery of the intervention session. Control participants will also receive text messages between intervention sessions. Message content will be the same for all control participants and contain general facts about asthma (not tailored). Youth will be recruited from the Detroit Medical Center, the only university affiliated medical center in Detroit, Michigan. It is hypothesized that youth randomized to MCTI will show improvements in adherence to medication (primary outcome) and asthma control (secondary outcome) compared to the comparison condition at all post-intervention follow ups (3, 6, 9, and 12 months).
Older adolescents and young adults have largely been ignored in the asthma intervention literature, though they are at highest risk for poor illness management and health outcomes. This project will test a brief, technology-based intervention specifically targeting adherence to asthma controller medications in an under- researched population, urban African American emerging adults. If successful, our multi-component technology intervention aimed at improving adherence to asthma medications has the potential to improve quality of life of minority emerging adults with asthma at relatively low cost. Further, it could be eventually be integrated into clinic settings and practice to reach a large number of emerging adults with asthma.
