P-20 Exploratory Center

$1.4 Million NIH Grant Awarded to School

UH Mānoa’s School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene has been awarded a $1.4 million federal grant aimed at addressing chronic illnesses, especially among Asian and Pacific Islanders, the groups most at risk for developing and dying from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

The 5-year award is from the National Institute of Nursing Research to the proposed “P-20 Exploratory Center for ‘Ohana Self-Management of Chronic Illness” (COSMCI).  The Center will research methods of reducing chronic illnesses through family- and community-based practices that encourage healthier lifestyles, better diets, and more exercise by linking interdisciplinary researcher to address these behaviors.

Mary Boland, Dean of the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, said, “This research project focuses on improving health among our Asian and Pacific Islanders by emphasizing healthy family lifestyles and maximizing the ability of individuals to take responsibility for managing their chronic illnesses.”

Earlier this year the Milken Institute State Chronic Disease Index ranked Hawai’i 7^th in lowest rate of chronic diseases but estimated that such illnesses cost the state $1.1 billion in treatment expenses and an additional $3.9 billion in lost productivity, based on 2003 figures..

The Center, directed by Jillian Inouye of the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, will focus on three illnesses: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; HIV/AIDS; and diabetes.

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) afflicts an estimated 55,364 adults in Hawaii and is the nation’s fourth leading cause of death for adults – and the only major disease in which mortality continues to increase.  The most frequently reported symptom of COPD is chronic dyspnea, the constant and unpleasant shortness of breath, which leads to reduced physical activity.  The Center will instruct patients in self-managing themselves with the help of improved breathing patterns coupled with an Internet-based system that will help monitor their physical activity and health status.
  

• Type 2 diabetes has become especially prevalent among Filipinos in Hawaii, affecting over 11% of the population.  The project will partner with the Philippines Nurses Association of Hawaii, to recruit 50 at-risk adult Filipinos to incorporate a program of diet changes and exercise into their families’ lifestyle.
  

• For the estimated 2,600 to 2,900 persons in Hawai’i living with HIV/AIDS, improvements in antiretroviral medication therapy enable them to live longer, more productive lives, but side-effects include disease-related symptoms and other adverse responses.  The Center will provide a seven-week chronic disease self-management program aimed at building clients’ sense of personal responsibility for being proactive in learning about their illness, adjusting health behaviors in response to symptoms, and in enhancing their own health-promoting attitudes and thoughts associated with HIV-management.