Got Asthma? Southeast Asians Living with Asthma in Providence, R.I.:
A study of Southeast Asian Awareness, Perceptions and Management of Asthma

Nguyet Tau
Bachelor's of Arts in Environmental Studies
May 2001

Although available, information concerning asthma awareness and management is not reaching the Southeast Asian communities in Providence Rhode Island, where 15,000 children are afflicted with the chronic disease. Asthma education programs, such as the Draw A Breath program, receive low participation rates from these communities, and interviews with respondents from each community support the concern that knowledge to mitigate asthma is not well known in these populations.

Findings from a total of 31 interviews obtained at home visits, community visits, and the Providence Community Health Centers (13 from the Cambodian community, 15 from the Laotian community, and 3 from the Hmong community) show that the Southeast Asian communities do not differentiate between control and quick relief medications, grouping both medicines as "inhalers", and furthermore, respondents did not know the specific role of each type of medication in treating their asthma. No Cambodian respondents related dust, cockroaches, or extreme emotions as triggers of asthma, and these respondents also took little preventative measures for their asthma. Laotian respondents were able to identify a greater variety of triggers and also showed that respondents took preventative actions, such as keeping their homes clean and avoiding pets, smoke and excessive physical activity (27%, N=4).

Since it was observed that the main reason why parents are unlikely to participate in the Draw A Breath program was that parents simply did not have the time in their days for a three hour education session, recommendations for the Draw A Breath program include sending home the asthma education materials to the families instead through the children afflicted with asthma, in the form of asthma information packets in the families' translated languages. Information packets should address asthma triggers and prevention, as well as have information that differentiates between control and quick relief medicines. The packets will also include asthma activity sheets for children to learn about their triggers and proper methods for using their inhalers. To ensure that these information packets reach the parents, children should bring back to school signed forms by their parents indicating that they have received the information packet. Follow up telephone calls should be made by people fluent in each Southeast Asian language to parents.

Recommendations for the Providence Community Health Centers include having information flyers available at the clinics to be handed to patients as they come and wait for their appointments. It was observed that patients usually did nothing as they waited for their appointment, and this time can be used to spread asthma education among the Southeast Asian patients. Flyers should be translated into the specific Southeast Asian languages, listing common triggers of asthma, as well as the difference between control and quick relief medicines and their individual parts in asthma treatment.

Suggestions for general research groups who wish to work with these populations include contacting a community leader or respected figure that could help to establish access into the community. It is important however to do preliminary research regarding each community's culture and traditions before meeting with the community leader, and then clearly explaining the objective of the research and why it is important to that community, in order to build trust between the researcher and the community leader.

Through greater awareness of asthma triggers and preventative measures, I hope the findings and recommendations from this research project will help mitigate asthma in the Southeast Asian communities in Providence, helping people to live healthier and better lives.