Week 1: Exploration Recap

Initial Brainstorming

To ground ourselves in the entire problem space, we conducted a Post-it Note exercise to brainstorm all of the possible stakeholders we could imagine and the places, touchpoints, and dynamics involved in childhood asthma management. We decided to organize our Post-Its into the places, such as “in school” or “at home”, that the elements took places and then had every team member write, on red Post-Its, questions they had. This helped our team flesh what parts of the system were interesting to individuals and, perhaps most importantly, identify the areas where needed to conduct further research.

Those questions included:

• Why do people affected by asthma go to the hospital?
• When do people affected by asthma go to the hospital?
• When you go to the doctors, the purpose may be to get medication. Confirm?
• What is the average knowledge of asthma (in schools, daycare centers)?
• At what age do children start learning about asthma?
• How much is invested financially from an insurance standpoint?
• What is the daily routine of parents and kids at home?
• What is the knowledge and attentiveness?
• What level of awareness and involvement do PE teachers/activities coaches and school nurses have?
• What are the responsibilities, expectations do coaches have?
• What forms are involved in informing others of children with asthma?
• What is the process of getting diagnosed with asthma?
• What devices are in place currently, and what kinds of things do they track for asthma?
• Are there spaces in which certain products exist? (humidifiers vs. inhalers)
• How and how often do parents ask for help and search for resources online?
• Do peers know how to approach how to help their friends with asthma?
• What are the main differences between information gap for low-income families?
• What services are used for asthma care currently?

Desk Research

Based on the results of the Post-It Note exercise, we conducted a loosely-directed literature review. We reviewed articles about asthma symptoms, management strategies, the particulars of childhood management, and various types of asthma support services that exist today. Key takeaways from this initial research included:

• There are meaningful economic benefits to improving home-based environmental asthma interventions, and those economic benefits are even higher when targeted to patients with poorly controlled asthma.
• Diagnosing asthma in children under age 5 or 6 can be particularly difficult, because children this age are not able to complete the lab and breathing tests that are usually used to confirm an asthma diagnosis. Given this, a physician has to use an indirect method of diagnosis for young children.
• Given the qualitative nature of the diagnostic tools for young children, there is a possibility of misdiagnosis or misuse of medicine. Also, parents and patient might experience emotional stress during the tracking period.