The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66544

James W Krieger, MD, MPH, Public Health-Seattle & King County and University of Washington Schools of Public Health and Medicine, 999 Third Ave Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98104, 206-296-6817, james.krieger@metrokc.gov, Robert Groves, MA, MPH, Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 260 South Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, Marielena Lara, MD, MPH, UCLA/RAND Program on Latino Children with Asthma, UCLA and University of Puerto Rico, 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, and Kimberly Wicklund, MPH, Epidemiology, Planning and Evaluation, Public Health-Seattle & King County, 9010 East Marginal Way South, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98108-4005.

Background: Control of asthma is a complex process involving people with asthma, families, schools, childcare sites, worksites, health providers, and communities. Often, these agents do not coordinate. The seven Allies Against Asthma coalitions have used the unique capacities of coalitions to develop more integrated systems for asthma control. Coalition strategies: Each coalition developed a vision of an asthma control system that integrates family, school/childcare, clinic, and community strategies. These may include (a) cross-program coordinating mechanisms such as joint recruiting and cross-referral of families, (b) community health workers and nurse coordinators to link families with providers, schools and childcare sites; promote communication; and encourage the use of shared asthma action plans among providers, (c) home visits to link environmental and clinical issues (d) adoption of a single action plan by health plans, providers and schools to promote consistency of care, (e) centralized referral centers that link families to appropriate resources such as education, home visits, insurance, social services and case management, (f) tracking systems to monitor referrals and make asthma management data available across providers, (g) quality improvement activities to link primary care to other sectors, and (h) policy initiatives to promote the use of consistent asthma messages, adoption of uniform asthma management guidelines, and asthma-friendly policies in community sites. Conclusions: The early experience of Allies Against Asthma demonstrates that integrating multi-level asthma control strategies is feasible and yields synergistic benefits. Coalitions expand the scope, effectiveness and integration of community asthma control strategies, but require substantial commitments of time and resources.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Recognize the value of integration of asthma control activities
• Become familiar with strategies to promote integration of asthma control activities
• Understand the unique strengths of coalitions in promoting integration of asthma control activities
• Understand how the lessons derived from asthma control can apply to other chronic illnesses.

Keywords: Asthma, Collaboration

Related Web page: www.asthma.umich.edu/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.