TY - JOUR T1 - Asthma self management preferences, attitudes and beliefs in primary care JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p4996 AU - Maureen George AU - Jennifer Kraft AU - Neika Vendetti AU - Ruth Pinilla AU - Ahmaad Johnson AU - Chantel Priolo AU - Rodalyn Gonzalez AU - Elizabeth Yim AU - Danielle Jackson AU - Dana Brown AU - Cynthia Rand Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p4996.abstract N2 - Purpose: To describe self management preferences, attitudes and beliefs of urban adults with persistent asthma.Subjects: Primary care patients prescribed inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).Methods: Survey.Results: A convenience sample of 141 subjects (78% female; 81% Black; 51% with ≤ high school education; 29% with commercial insurance; mean age 50.4 + 13.4; range 19-83) prescribed inhaled ICS for persistent asthma were enrolled from 5 sites (2 internal medicine, 2 family medicine and 1 federally qualified health clinic). Subjects completed a self-administered 39-item survey about their conventional and alternative asthma self management preferences, attitudes and beliefs. Seventy-six percent felt they needed daily ICS. Twenty-four subjects (17%) used ICS symptomatically. Additionally, 37% believed they were the best judge of whether they needed ICS or not. Several feared ICS addiction (21%) or tolerance (18%). Perhaps most distressing – 16% voiced concern that “someone may be experimenting on me by prescribing [ICS]” or that “someone may be experimenting on me by prescribing [ICS]” for writing ICS prescriptions. All subjects used some form of alternative self management, including fresh air/fan (84%), water (46%), steam/using warming therapies (35%), bathing/dressing prescriptives (30-35%), prayer (36%), teas (28%), coffee or “natural therapies” (18%), percussion (17%), or herbs, vitamins or mentholatum rubs (16%). Importantly, 31% felt the integration of both conventional and alternative approaches was superior to either one alone.Conclusions: Patients have unique self management preferences, attitudes and beliefs that, if identified and discussed, could serve as the foundation of a tailored plan of care that may reduce barriers to ICS use. ER -