BREATHE LA's Partnership with the SC CTSI

BREATHE LA is a local non-profit organization committed to improving lung health and air quality for all Los Angeles area residents through research, education, advocacy and technology. In partnership with the Office of Community Engagement of the SC CTSI, we will be launching a new research project funded through an NIH supplement to the current CTSI.   The new SC CTSI research initiative will utilize our O24u environmental education program as a vehicle for establishing and piloting an evidence-based curriculum to better address our region's asthma epidemic.

Through partnerships with after-school service providers at 68 sites that annually reach more than 10,000 children, 8-14 years old, in Long Beach, our O24u environmental education program works with family members to reduce the number/severity of respiratory diseases.

While early detection and management programs have been developed and implemented for children and parents affected by asthma, the rates continue to increase in our communities. This is particularly true for communities along congested freeways and in industrial areas; areas which are the targeted communities for our collaborative project with the SC CTSI and COPE Health Solutions. This research effort seeks to address three primary questions:

• What are the common challenges parents and students face in managing pediatric asthma?

• To what extent do current interventions address these challenges?

• How can we augment and/or develop more effective evidence-based interventions for pediatric asthma management for students and parents?

There are three stages in conducting this research:

1) Conduct CBPR (Community Based Participatory Research) to determine community knowledge and perceptions of asthma triggers and management with the goal of nurturing the development of culturally relevant prevention education and interventions.

2) Refine BreatheLA's O24u asthma curriculum to fit existing evidence based models and adapt the curriculum to reflect the needs and suggestions identified in the first stage.    

3) Present a proposal of recommended interventions and next steps based on the information gathered in the first stage of data collection.

BREATHE LA will also manage dissemination of research findings and other information to our OCE partner organizations and other community groups. Recognized for its educational series and wellness programs including asthma control for children, we are proud to be chosen as a primary partner in this valuable research initiative. We are committed to developing and promoting multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary lung health curriculum that is tailored to meet the needs of the communities that we serve.

www.breathela.org