Improving bronchiectasis education for Indigenous populations through a multi-lingual culturally appropriate mobile application (app)

 

Aims: 
  1. To develop an Indigenous-specific multi-lingual digital platform (smartphone app and web-based) for bronchiectasis education based on our current respiratory educational flipchart.
  2. To evaluate whether the use and benefits of a digital platform improves knowledge and understanding of bronchiectasis among Indigenous carers of children with bronchiectasis, using quantitative methods.
Summary:

Although regarded as an ‘orphan disease’, bronchiectasis remains a major contributor to chronic lung morbidity and mortality in Indigenous people. In the Northern Territory, the prevalence of bronchiectasis among Indigenous children is very high (one in every 63-68). To address this; innovative interventions that are culturally-appropriate are needed.

In this study, we are creating a mobile application (app) and web-based platform adapted from our existing chronic suppurative lung disease/bronchiectasis flipchart, with ‘voice-over’ in local Indigenous languages, using a mixture of static and interactive formats. We will test and evaluate the app involving a before and after study on bronchiectasis-related knowledge based on our previous flipchart studies.

Implications for policy and practice:

For Indigenous people living in remote communities of Australia where the turnover of health staff is high and access to specialist services is limited, the development of the ‘bronchiectasis app’ has the capacity to improve access to health education, once limited in rural and remote populations. The app moves toward reducing language and context barriers particularly faced by Indigenous people in rural or remote settings. Further, the app reaches a generation engaged with technology even in the most remote settings.

Our research has found:

N/A evaluation is ongoing

Chief investigator:
Project manager:
  • Mrs Kobi Schutz
Contact info:
Project dates:

2019 - 2020

Funders:
  • Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand