Exploring the Lived Experience of Young Adults With Severe Asthma

Asthma is a serious long-term lung condition caused by swollen airways that narrow. This causes wheezing, chest tightness, and breathlessness. Most asthma is well-controlled with medication.

However, 5-10% of asthmatics have severe asthma where treatment does not control symptoms and up to 67% of asthmatics have uncontrolled asthma, caused by not always taking medication as recommended, lifestyle choices or other health problems worsening their asthma.

In the UK, asthma affects around 800,000 young adults. This group is at high-risk of having poor asthma control, worse outcomes than other age-groups. This is because young adults need care that differs from other age-groups and current care is not meeting these needs.

There is little information on the experiences and needs of this group and very few studies exist, exploring how to improve care. This study will explore the experiences and needs of young adults (age16-25) with severe and uncontrolled asthma.

Methods. The investigators will perform two study-arms with young adults with severe/uncontrolled asthma in Manchester and Liverpool severe asthma centres:

Study-arm 1: Interview participants using photographs chosen by them to help explain their experiences of living with asthma and support that they need.

Study arm 2: Perform group interviews to understand participants' thoughts around the insights from study-arm 1 combined with their own experiences. To explore and develop ideas on how to improve future care.

At the end of both study arms, a workshop involving patients and stakeholders involved in delivering care will take place, to identify a joint goal of how to improve care in this cohort and map ways in which to achieve this.

Together, the study results and workshop will increase our understanding of the experiences and needs of young adults with asthma. Helping us to identify new ways to improve care which can be tested in future research.