title: Mapping the urban asthma experience: Using qualitative GIS to understand contextual factors affecting asthma control.
abstract: Asthma is complex and connected to a number of factors including access to healthcare, crime and violence, and environmental triggers. A mixed method approach was used to examine the experiences of urban people with asthma in controlling their asthma symptoms. The study started with an initial phase of qualitative interviews in West Philadelphia, a primarily poor African American community. Data from qualitative, semi-structured interviews indicated that stress, environmental irritants, and environmental allergens were the most salient triggers of asthma. Based on the interviews, the team identified six neighborhood factors to map including crime, housing vacancy, illegal dumping, tree canopy and parks. These map layers were combined into a final composite map. These combined methodologies contextualized respondents' perceptions in the framework of the actual community and built environment which tells a more complete story about their experience with asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, USA. Electronic address: Shimrit.keddem@uphs.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Shimrit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keddem
authors.affiliation: Mixed Methods Research Lab, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA; Department of Family Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Frances K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Barg
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, USA; Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Glanz
authors.affiliation: Cartographic Modeling Lab, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, USA.
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: George
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D003415:Crime; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015143:Philadelphia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D014504:Urban Health
keywords: Asthma control; Disparities; Geographic information systems; Semi-structured interviews