Project STRENGTH
Overview
Organization: Respiratory Health Association
Start Date: 06/2020
End Date: Ongoing
Primary Goal: Goal 1: Empower people with COPD, their families, and caregivers to recognize and reduce the burden of COPD.
Secondary Goal(s):
- Goal 2: Improve the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of COPD by improving the quality of care delivered across the health care continuum.
Objective(s):
- Increase the effectiveness and variety of outreach communication campaigns and activities that utilize evidence-based approaches to raise awareness of COPD, particularly among those at high risk, and help people diagnosed with COPD manage the disease
- Expand opportunities to increase COPD awareness across the public-private spectrum
- Develop and encourage the use of a written, patient-centric COPD management plan tool, with appropriate cultural and health literacy considerations, which can be customized with input from the patient's health care provider(s)
- Improve access to care for people with COPD, particularly for those in hard-to reach areas
Collaboration: US COPD Coalition, Breathe New Hampshire, University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Healthcare Design Delivery
Activity Type: Patient education, Material or product
Activity Description
Project STRENGTH (Support for Transitioning Rehabilitation and Exercise Now Going To Home) consists of simple, understandable support resources for COPD patients to transition from outpatient to home-based pulmonary rehabilitation. It supports Goal 1 and Goal 2 of the COPD National Action Plan by closing the gap and reducing the barriers to accessing pulmonary rehabilitation.Audience
General Audience: Patients, Caregivers or family members, General public, Health professionals
Focused Audience: n/a
Program Reach: National
Type of Area: Urban, Suburban, Rural
Setting: Community, Home
Cost and Funding Sources
This activity cost $68,652, with $50,000 awarded from the 2020 LMBB subcontractor grant, and $18,652 being contributed in kind by Respiratory Health Association and UIC's Institute for Healthcare Delivery Design.Impact Analysis
Respiratory Health Association has printed 3,000 copies of four packets, and plans to distribute these packets to 25 healthcare organizations around the country and 85 individuals. RHA is continuing to do outreach to increase the reach of these packets, and will measure downloads of packets from the webpage.Advice or Lessons Learned
Through an environmental scan and key informant interviews, RHA learned that a comprehensive pulmonary rehab at home resource did not currently exist in the US. When designing resources, it is important to always engage the community for whom the resource is developed. The COPD patient groups had the most insightful suggestions on what would make the resource packets even better. RHA also found that patient conversations and feedback underscored the desire for short, easy to follow information, rather than a long, detailed document. Patient conversations also led to including more opportunities for write-in questions and answers to encourage self-empowerment and motivation.Related Links
Contact Information
Respiratory Health Association
Senior Program Coordinator
Chicago
Illinois