We aim to develop and refine a mobile application for asthma self-management which tailored to health literacy needs for adults patients with asthma in primary care clinic in the Klang District, Selangor State, Malaysia. Dataset contains qualitative interviews from phase 2, responses to quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interviews in phase 3.

Supported self-management for asthma (including action plans and regular review) is highly effective at improving asthma control, reducing acute attacks and the need for unscheduled healthcare. However, globally it is challenging to implement self-management in patients with asthma. One particular challenge is the need to tailor support for people with limited health literacy especially in low and middle income countries (LMICs) such as in Malaysia. In 2015, it was estimated that more than 90% of the Malaysian general population have limited health literacy. A tailored asthma self-management intervention, paying attention to the needs of people with limited health literacy, potentially could lessen health inequalities in Malaysia. This study is conducted in 3 phases. Phase 1 is a systematic review looking at effectiveness of asthma self-management interventions which address health literacy needs. We found gap in this area of knowledge. In phase 2, we conducted mixed qualitative and Photovoice, an arts-based qualitative study to explore lived experience of people living with asthma and limited health literacy in Malaysia. We found rich data on challenges and enablers around psychosocial themes on how people views asthma, self-management and experienced health literacy. We also explore the potential of technology i.e. mobile application to tailor asthma self-management support. Based on phase 2 findings, in phase 3, we developed and refined an asthma self-management mobile application with feedback from patients and health care professionals through a intervention design workshop which was conducted online.

For further information, see: https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/respire/phd-studentships/hani-salim https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/respire/health-literacy-asthma-malaysia

Phase 1: Salim, H., Young, I., Shariff Ghazali, S. et al. Protocol for a systematic review of interventions addressing health literacy to improve asthma self-management. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 29, 18 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-019-0125-y

Phase 1: Salim H, Ramdzan SN, Ghazali SS, Lee PY, Young I, McClatchey K, Pinnock H; NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Respiratory Health (RESPIRE) collaborations. A systematic review of interventions addressing limited health literacy to improve asthma self-management. J Glob Health. 2020 Jun;10(1):010427. doi: 10.7189/jogh.10.010428.