Many of us fall into the trap of thinking that because asthma is so common in Australia, it’s easy to manage. Yet the statistics tell us it’s a different story. Australia has one of the worst hospitalisation rates among OECD countries for asthma and engagement indicators are poor, only 30% of people have an Asthma Action Plan and most people are not using their prescribed medicines as recommended. With a world class universal health system and a national medicines policy we expect better.

We are excited to enable work that develops and delivers a translated solution to improve access and engagement to excellent quality asthma care, enables effective self-management, and which considers principles of person-centredness. Applicants’ expert in a range of methods are invited to apply, including the disciplines of social innovation, participatory design, systems thinking and behavioural theory. The partnership-style grant is aimed at promoting practical and complementary partnerships between institutions, towards real end-user engagement and realistic implementation.

Asthma care and self-management is the priority theme #2 in NARP, reflecting its high priority in the National Asthma Research Agenda (NARA) and reflecting Asthma Australia’s point of difference in being able to engage meaningfully in related research.

The summary of this theme refers to Interventions to improve access to and delivery of services, patient-clinician partnership, self-management strategies and patient empowerment.

We are pleased to invite applications from research collaborators and alliances who are committed to driving change. Applications may address one of more of the following research questions:

Barriers to and enablers of access to high quality asthma care:

• What barriers to optimal asthma care exist in disadvantaged communities and how can we reduce them?
• What are the barriers to continuity of care for people with asthma and how can they be overcome?
• How can existing enablers which effectively address obstacles to good quality asthma management for disadvantaged communities be leveraged?
• How can home-administration of asthma medicine(eg steroids, biological therapies) be improved?
• What is the most feasible and acceptable approach to home-based self-management planning in asthma which incorporates the needs of the critical actors in a person’s eco-system?
• How can carers be supported to help improve outcomes for people with asthma?

Systems solutions:

• What systems can be implemented to optimise effective referral to specialists for those who need specialist care for asthma? And, in particular, for people in regional and remote locations?
• What tools or mechanisms may be implemented to standardise and improve the quality of primary health care delivered by clinicians?
• What is an effective mechanism or model that can help people with asthma navigate the healthcare system and access quality care at all levels?

Person-centredness

• What is shared decision making in asthma healthcare?
• What impact does shared decision making have on clinical and person-centred outcomes?
• How can shared decision making be developed to improve continuity of care and effective self-management in asthma?
• What models of care can be used to address current deficits in self-management education?
• How can we embed measures that reflect patient preferences in quality care standards for asthma?
• What are the core elements of asthma health literacy, how can it be addressed, and how does it impact asthma outcomes?

These questions have been derived directly from the National Asthma Research Agenda which reflect the priorities of people with asthma, their carers, and health professionals.

Applications will be assessed against our assessment criteria. Project impact will be assessed highly when the impact is immediate and scalable.

We are inspired to work with teams who are best equipped to answer these questions in meaningful ways.

Information for Applicants  

Any questions please contact research@asthma.org.au