Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of A Digital social intervention for people with troublesome astHma prOmoted by primary care Clinicians (AD-HOC) Does promoting engagement in an online health community in primary care improve asthma control and quality of life?The problem:4.3 million adults live with asthma in the UK; more than a third of them experience troublesome asthma symptoms and many experience anxiety. Supporting self-management for people with long-term conditions like asthma has proved difficult in the past. New approaches are needed.Online health communities are beginning to be used in healthcare. For example, NHS Digital Facebook groups to promote cancer screening. Evidence that they make a real difference, though, is sparse. We found that in an online health community up to 95% of requests for information received replies. In the Asthma UK community, peer advice helped people with taking their inhalers. Members of the community gained a sense of reward through helping and interacting with peers.Information and support spread through online communities thanks to a small number of very active ‘superusers' (knowledgeable people who are regularly active online). Superusers act as catalysts to bind an online community together and help to maintain it. Only ten superusers are needed for an online community of 1,000 people to flourish. Patients working with us said that just having someone to talk to, who understands your condition can sometimes be all that is required to relieve anxiety and potentially avoid an exacerbation.What we’ll doThrough a survey, identify people with troublesome asthma, and via their GP, invite them to join the Asthma UK online health communityDesign the best way of evaluating the impact of joining an asthma online health communityMaximise the safety of online communities through developing recommendations for moderatorsFind out the best ways to encourage people to participate in our study in 3 GP practicesUsing the best research methods, test the impact of joining an online health community on the health of people with troublesome asthma from 50 GP practicesIf successful, we will work together with our patient and public involvement (PPI) colleagues to promote this model nationally and internationally for asthma and take it forward for people with other long-term conditions.Key People Anna De SimoniAD-HOC study leadCentre co-lead: Patient and Public InvolvementBased at: Queen Mary University of LondonAnna's Profile Chris GriffithsAD-HOC study co-leadCentre Director and lead: Preventing asthma attacksBased at: Queen Mary University of LondonChris' Profile Bill DayVolunteer Patient and Public Involvement Patient LeadBill's Profile Aziz SheikhCentre DirectorBased at: University of EdinburghAziz's Profile Borislava MihaylovaChair in Health EconomicsBased at: Queen Mary University of LondonBorislava's Profile Stephanie TaylorProfessor in Public Health and Primary CareBased at: Queen Mary University of LondonStephanie's Profile Contact UsContact the study team directly via email. Email the AD-HOC Team FundingWe are funded research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (Reference Number NIHR202037). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.PartnersIndustry: HealthUnlockedCharity: Asthma + Lung UKUniversities: University of Cambridge | Professor Jonathan MantUniversity of Nottingham | Professor Neil CoulsonCity, University of London | Professor Richard AshcroftUniversity of Surrey | Professor Nishanth SastrySt George University | Dr Jane WatsonQueen Mary University of London, School of Business and Management | Professor Pietro PanzarasaQueen Mary University of London, Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health | Professor Vicky Bird This article was published on 2024-09-24
