WeBREATHe: Web-Based Respiratory Education About Tobacco and Health

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the United States, it is estimated that approximately 43 percent of children under the age of 5 are exposed to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) either in the home or in public. There is mounting evidence that childhood exposure to ETS can have pervasive and lasting effects on an individual's health throughout the lifespan. The best described effect of exposure to ETS in children is an increased incidence of respiratory diseases, documented by pulmonary function impairment, increased emergency and physician's visits, as well as hospitalization rates. When children are hospitalized with respiratory illnesses, respiratory nurses are presented with a clinical opportunity to encourage parental smokers to give up tobacco. Studies have demonstrated the viability of using nurses to help patients quit, yet the majority of health professionals cite lack of training as a barrier to providing these services. There is a need for disseminable, empirically-validated tobacco education to encourage and assist nurses in intervening with tobacco-using family members. Interactive computer-based programs can meet this need. We propose to develop an interactive Internet-based program, WeBREATHe (Web-Based Respiratory Education About Tobacco and Health), to train pediatric nurses and respiratory therapists to provide brief, hospital-based tobacco cessation interventions to patients' families. During Phase I, we will develop and evaluate a prototype program specifically aimed at respiratory therapists and nurses specializing in the care of pediatric patients with respiratory diseases. The prototype will be developed with input from 2 focus groups of respiratory therapists, nurses, and educators. A prototype (Alpha version) of the interactive training program, containing elements of video, audio, text, graphics and interactive programming will be delivered via the internal website at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to 25 respiratory therapists and 25 nurses. Outcomes will be evaluated using a pre-/post-assessment of respiratory therapists' and nurses' attitudes, knowledge, perceived barriers, and consumer satisfaction. Our team has extensive experience in developing tobacco education for health care workers, producing interactive training programs, creating and evaluating Internet- based health applications, and delivering comprehensive family-centered care to the pediatric patient and parent, uniquely qualifying us to conduct the proposed research.