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Integrating Air Quality into Cardiovascular Care: Exploring Communication Between Patients and Providers
Citation:
Baghdikian, C., W. Cascio, A. Davis, S. Deflorio-Barker, Ray Garlington, M. Hano, B. Hubbell, S. Katz, E. Lazzarino, S. Prince, G. Robarge, E. Sams, AND S. Stone. Integrating Air Quality into Cardiovascular Care: Exploring Communication Between Patients and Providers. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-18/001, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
In the summer of 2018, EPA conducted a study that sought to better understand how air quality information could be integrated into cardiac rehab care. A team of researchers from EPA and Industrial Economics Inc. (IEc) conducted three focus groups in Raleigh, North Carolina. Each focus group consisted of a different set of participants involved in cardiac rehab. One included cardiac rehab patients, a second with non-physician cardiac rehab health care providers, and the third with cardiologists and primary care providers. This study investigated the experiences, attitudes, and beliefs regarding the risk of poor air quality on cardiovascular health. Further, we explored the experiences, attitudes, and beliefs regarding the use of portable HEPA air purifiers, a technology that may reduce adverse health effects associated with poor air quality. We heard from these participants that education about healthy lifestyles and avoiding future health risks is central to cardiac patients’ experiences after a cardiac event. However, environmental health and air quality risk information is not typically included in educational resources. Participants shared a range of opinions regarding incorporating air quality information into the cardiac rehab process. This summary is intended as an interim update to participants and other stakeholders. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts from these focus groups is planned for the fall of 2018. Insights from this project can complement current research and programmatic efforts in this area by informing health risk communication among cardiac rehab participants.
Description:
This project is part of a growing body of research about air quality, cardiovascular health, and strategies to mitigate adverse health effects associated with poor air quality. Understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among cardiac rehab stakeholders advances public health research and practice in this area. Health risk communication is critical to bringing about behavior change. This study advances our knowledge about those communication processes in the context of cardiac rehab. Moreover, understanding perspectives on the acceptance and appropriate use of a portable HEPA air purifier builds on current research about effectiveness and health benefits of these devices. These focus groups illuminated the low level of understanding and awareness of how air quality impacts health, information describing this process, and how to reduce exposure across the cardiac rehabilitation process. This summary is intended as an interim update to participants and other stakeholders. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts from these focus groups is planned for the fall of 2018. Insights from this project can complement current research and programmatic efforts in this area by informing health risk communication among cardiac rehab participants.