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Ischemic heart disease (IHD) affects over 48 million women in the US and is the leading cause of death. Hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia are risk factors for the genesis of IHD in women. Disease management programs (DM) have proven effective, overall, in facilitating lifestyle change and adherence to treatment plan but little is known about the effectiveness of these programs for men versus women. The purpose of this program evaluation was to identify differences in outcomes between men and women who participated in DM programs for hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia.Between 2015 and 2019, 616 unique individuals completed one of these DM programs. Measures of height, weight, exercise minutes, sedentary lifestyle, healthy nutrition, sleep, hydration and medication adherence were taken at the first and last visit. The sample was primarily female (70%), white (76%), Married (67%), educated (93% had bachelor’s or better), and were 49.3 years old, on average. Analysis revealed that males and females differ in response to the DM programs. While there was significant decrease in BMI for all participants (p

BACKGROUND Despite significant advances in treatment modalities, morbidity due to childhood asthma has continued to increase, particularly for poor and minority children. OBJECTIVES To describe the parental illness representation of asthma in juxtaposition to the professional model of asthma and to evaluate the impact of that illness representation on the adequacy of the child's medication regimen. METHODS Parents (n = 228) of children with asthma were interviewed regarding illness beliefs using a semistructured interview. The impact of background characteristics, parental beliefs, the child's symptom interpretation, and the parent-healthcare provider (HCP) relationship on the adequacy of the child's medication regimen were evaluated. RESULTS The parental and professional models of asthma differ markedly. Demographic risk factors (p = .005), low parental education (p < .0001), inaccurate symptom evaluation by the child (p = .02), and a poor parent-HCP relationship (p < .0001) had a negative effect on the parental illness representation. A parental illness representation concordant with the professional model of asthma (p = .05) and more formal asthma education (p = .02) had a direct positive effect on the medication regimen. Demographic risk factors (p = .006) and informal advice-seeking (p = .0003) had a negative impact on the regimen. The parental illness representation mediated the impact of demographic risk factors (p = .10), parental education (p =.07), and the parent-HCP relationship (p = .06) on the regimen. DISCUSSION Parents and HCPs may come to the clinical encounter with markedly different illness representations. Establishing a partnership with parents by eliciting and acknowledging parental beliefs is an important component of improving disease management.