Indigenous healthcare worker involvement for indigenous adults and children with asthma

World-wide indigenous people with asthma are disproportionately represented in the severe end of the disease spectrum. Appropriate models of care are important in the successful delivery of services, and are likely contributors to improved outcomes for people with asthma. In this review, we examined if involvement of an indigenous healthcare worker (IHW) (when compared to absence of an IHW) in asthma education programs improves asthma related outcomes in Indigenous children and adults with asthma. There was only one study involving 113 people eligible for inclusion in this review. The participants showed improvement in the patient's asthma knowledge score, the parent's asthma skill score and a reduction in the number of days missed from school in children who were cared for by an indigenous healthcare worker. However as exacerbation frequency was not reduced and there was only a single, small study, we cannot be confident of the results although we think it is likely that the involvement of IHW is beneficial. Nevertheless, given the complexity of health outcomes and culture as well as the importance of self-determination for indigenous peoples, the practice of including IHW in asthma education programs for indigenous children and adults with asthma is justified, but should be subject to further randomised controlled trials