Perceptions of Asthma among Native Americans and Alaska Natives
In this two-part study, researchers are investigating cultural factors that may influence asthma diagnosis and treatment in Native American and Alaska Native communities. The first phase of the study took place on the Navajo nation in northeastern Arizona, where researchers found substantial under-treatment of asthma. |
|
Their investigation revealed that citizens feared becoming dependent on asthma medications; consequently, they actively tried to "wean" asthmatic patients from long-term controller medications, preferring instead to rely on the hospital emergency department to provide powerful nebulized medicines when symptoms arose. This finding suggests that patient beliefs and culturally sanctioned behaviors have important implications for successful treatment of asthma.
The second phase of this study involves the Yup'ik peoples of western Alaska, where researchers are investigating beliefs and other factors that may contribute to the under-diagnosis of asthma among Yup'ik children who wheeze. Over the past two years, investigators have completed more than 60 ethnographic interviews and medical record reviews of Yup'ik families who have at least one asthmatic child. These children had many clinic visits and repeated hospital admissions for respiratory symptoms, but infrequent diagnoses of asthma or reactive airways disease. This project has laid the groundwork for improved treatment of respiratory diseases among Yup'ik children, and it has helped to identify risk factors for these diseases.
Primary focus: Asthma |
