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San Diego State University awarded $4 million grant to improve asthma care for Latino youth

Researchers at San Diego State University have been awarded a $4 million federal grant to improve asthma education and treatment strategies for Latino youth of Imperial Valley, Calif., according to a press release.

The Imperial County Asthma Research Project will join John Elder, PhD, and Guadalupe X. Ayala, PhD, of SDSU’s Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, and partners Clínicas de Salud del Pueblo, Comité Cívico del Valle, and the California Department of Public Health’s California Breathing program to study the youth population’s asthma complications.

“Parents assume their kids can manage a lot more of their care on their own than may be true,” Ayala said in the press release. “We need to train kids how to be self-dependent. That leads to better adherence, which leads to improved quality of life.”

The researchers also will assess if the project minimizes asthma’s impact on families and quality of life.