Beating Breathlessness - Nurse led WhatsApp support for Asthma improves self-management of condition

“Beating Breathlessness”, an Integration Fund project funded by Sláintecare and delivered by the Asthma Society, is providing easily accessible support, education and information to people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma.

Beating Breathlessness is a six-week self-management support programme delivered through text as well as a personalised nurse-led instant messaging service delivered through the WhatsApp platform. Beating Breathlessness will help people better understand and manage their condition.

One of the aims of the Sláintecare Integration Fund is for people to become more engaged and empowered in their own healthcare, and this service allows people to do that, with medical support.

The texting or WhatsApp service can be prescribed by a healthcare professional to a person following diagnosis, or recognition that a patient’s condition is “uncontrolled”. People with Asthma or COPD could also join the programme directly via the Asthma Society website. Beating Breathlessness aims to reach 1,000 people through the self-management plan, and to have 2,500 WhatsApp chats supporting selfmanagement.

The programme provides people with daily tips, affirmations, reminders, resources and strategies delivered by text. The accompanying nurse-led chat service on WhatsApp offers personalised information and support to people with asthma and COPD, as well as their parents or carers.

The WhatsApp service will be available as an add-on to the self-management programme but will also be available independently for those not signed up to the six-week course.

The WhatsApp service will allow users to send a query via WhatsApp which will be answered by a dedicated respiratory nurse specialist, hired specifically for this service, who will be supported by a Health Promotion Manager.

As this is an online service, it is available across the country.

At the end of this project it is hoped that people with asthma and/or COPD will have a better

understanding of how to control their condition and when they need to take action. People with asthma and/or COPD will be empowered to better manage their condition through increased awareness of asthma or COPD management, and they will benefit from improved confidence to engage with the health system, and how to access and navigate it.

Beating Breathlessness will track patient health outcomes from the service – using peak flow measurements and symptom trackers to establish where patients experience shorter and fewer hospital stays as a result of using the programme.