Information Needs of State-Level Asthma Programs: Recommendations to Increase Accessibility

Abstract

Asthma is the most common pediatric chronic disease, affecting about 5 million U.S. children. Controlling asthma requires intervention at the individual, household, and community levels. State asthma programs offer activities to support asthma control. We profiled U.S. state asthma programs through a website survey (24 CDC-funded, 10 non-CDC-funded) and then interviewed program managers about their information needs to identify ways to support their work. While CDC-funded and non-CDC-funded programs report similar goals and activities, their levels of engagement differed. Most programs rely on federal agencies or national associations for education materials. Concerns about materials were the lack of accessibility due to readability (reading level above sixth grade) and the lack of translations for culturally and linguistically diverse populations. In addition to priority needs around accessibility of materials, programs requested research to enhance their work and to support asthma management for young adults and incarcerated individuals.