Iraj Poureslami, Jessica Shum, Natalie Cheng, J Mark FitzGerald
In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), patient education is one of the fundamental components of successful self-management. However in most instances patient education is limited to the transfer of information about COPD, its causes and its treatment. Moreover, among patients who have received health information regarding their disease, a number do not continue disease management at home or outside of the healthcare setting. This is in part due to misunderstanding instructions given by care providers. Additional issues arise when patients and care providers do not share a common language. Developing information materials in English and then simply translating them into either written or video formats is not effective because the materials do not incorporate patients’ cultural beliefs, views or perceptions. This study investigated howpatients with COPD, from new immigrant communities in British Columbia, Canada, received and utilised information about their condition and its management as a basis for developing appropriate educational materials. We applied a community-based participatory approach in learning about the cultural beliefs and perspectives influencing patients’ selfmanagement practice. Family members and home caregivers were also encouraged to become involved in the material development and learning process. Qualitative focus groups and individual interviewswere conducted with a total of 46 COPD patients (n=30) and their family members (n=16) from Chinese (Mandarin andCantonese), Filipino,Korean, English, and Farsi ethnic minority communities in the Greater Vancouver Area between May 2013 and March 2014. Findings were summarised into five themes: current knowledge and practices of COPD selfmanagement; trusted sources of health information; insufficient care received from doctors; information they wish to receive; barriers to accessing health information. Data analysis of these themes showed that it is essential to consider diverse cultural beliefs and practices when developing selfmanagement educational materials for patients from ethno-cultural communities. Our findings suggest that engaging patients in all stages of development may increase patient efficacy and motivation to apply and use information, as well as ensuring that materials developed are relevant andappropriate for minority groups.
