Im and Chee Submit NIH R01 Application

Kudos to Eun-Ok Im and her entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 application entitled "To Enhance Menopausal Symptom Management of Four Major Ethnic Groups of Midlife Women." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of July 1, 2018.

Abstract: Inadequate menopausal symptom management has been frequently reported in midlife women, especially in ethnic minorities, and its main reason has been postulated as a lack of information and coaching/support that consider women’s cultural attitudes related to menopausal symptoms (e.g., cultural hesitance to discuss menopausal symptoms). As ethnic minorities comprise over 36% of the US population, the lack of culturally appropriate interventions could result in insufficient or inappropriate health care for more than 40 million menopausal women from multi-ethnic groups. However, the pressures of a fast-paced clinical setting leave health care providers with little time to consider the women’s cultural attitudes in their practice, which necessitates an innovative and creative delivery method of the information and coaching/support in primary care settings. A technology-based approach using computers and mobile devices promises to meet this necessity with high flexibility and accessibility, and minimizes the cost of the intervention in busy primary care settings.

Thus, based on Preliminary Studies, the research team has developed and pilot-tested a theory-driven technology-based information and coaching/support program for menopausal symptom management that is tailored to multi-ethnic groups of midlife women (MMAM) using multiple features. The purpose of this randomized intervention study is to test the efficacy of the MMAM in enhancing menopausal symptom management of four major ethnic groups (Non-Hispanic [NH] White, Hispanic, NH African American, and NH Asian) of midlife women in the U.S.

The long-term goals are to: (a) develop and test an accompanying program for health care providers to increase their cultural sensitivity related to menopausal symptom management; (b) implement and test MMAM in various primary care settings; (c) determine if the management of their symptoms will lead to long-term improved health outcomes; and (d) fundamentally enhance the methodology/paradigm of technology-based interventions for midlife women.

Kudos to Eun-Ok Im and Wonshik Chee and their entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 Multi-PI application entitled "To Increase Lifestyle Physical Activity among Four Major Ethnic Groups of Midlife Women." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of July 1, 2018.

Abstract: With multiple changes due to menopausal transition, over 40 million midlife women are at increased risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Despite well-known beneficial effects of physical activity on reducing these risks, the amount of lifestyle physical activity of midlife women, especially of ethnic minority women, still remains low. A main reason for their low lifestyle physical activity has been postulated as a lack of consideration on their cultural attitudes related to physical activity in promoting their lifestyle physical activity. Due to the pressures of a fast-paced primary care setting, healthcare providers frequently find it difficult to provide information and coaching/support related to physical activity to midlife women while considering their cultural attitudes. Thus, there is a great need for adopting an innovative and effective method of delivering information and coaching/support related to physical activity to the women that considers their cultural attitudes. Technology-based programs using mobile devices, computers, and accelerometers promise to meet the need with high flexibility and accessibility. Thus, based on a previous R01 study (R01NR010568), the research team developed and pilot-tested a theory-driven technology-based information and coaching/support program for physical activity promotion that is culturally tailored to four major ethnic groups in the U.S. using multiple features.

The long-term goals are to: (a) refine the program into an acceptable, easily administered, and cost-effective technology-based physical activity promotion program for multi-ethnic groups of midlife women; (b) implement and test the program in various primary care settings across the nation; and (c) fundamentally enhance the methodology/paradigm of culturally tailored technology-based interventions.