Kudos to Eun-Ok Im, associate dean for research development and regulatory affairs; Wonshik Chee, associate professor; and their entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 application entitled "To Decrease Sleep-related Symptoms among Midlife Asian American Women During their Menopausal Transition." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of Jan. 1, 2020. 

Sleep-related symptoms are one of the health concerns that are most frequently reported by midlife women during their menopausal transition. The consequences of sleep difficulties range from reduced quality of life to serious disability and increased psychiatric and medical morbidity/mortality. Although sleep-related symptoms could be managed using various modes of interventions, the choice of symptom management strategies mainly depends on women’s cultural attitudes related to their symptoms. A lack of culturally appropriate interventions that consider women’s cultural attitudes could result in insufficient or unsuitable symptom management for over 4 million midlife racial/ethnic minority women.

The purpose of this randomized intervention study is to examine the efficacy of the technology-based physical activity promotion program in reducing sleep-related symptoms of midlife Asian American women. The specific aims are to: (a) determine whether the intervention group will show significantly greater improvements than the control group in sleep-related symptom experience from a pre-test to two followup time points (post 6-months and post 12-months); (b) determine whether the intervention group will show significantly greater improvements than the control group in physical activity experience from the pre-test to the two follow-up time points; and (c) determine whether the effects of the program on sleep-related symptoms are moderated by background characteristics, perceived health/disease status, and menopause-related factors.