The proposed study will directly test the benefit of the 10-week COPD Wellness and Plus+ Program relative to usual care and estimate the added benefit of the HA in COPD Wellness Plus+ to COPD Wellness alone in a three-arm, randomized waitlist-controlled trial conducted in three geographically isolated urban primary care sites that provide care for some of the most socially vulnerable patient populations with COPD. In this Type 1 effectiveness-implementation hybrid design, the investigators aim to 1) determine the effectiveness of COPD Wellness and Plus+ to improve functional and symptom outcomes; and, using a mixed-methods approach 2) to evaluate the implementation of COPD Wellness and Plus+ across study sites applying the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) frameworks to identify additional barriers and enablers of intervention implementation and patient acceptance and adherence.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the leading causes of death in the US, disproportionately affects low socioeconomic communities. While few interventions effectively modify the course of COPD and improve outcomes, pulmonary rehabilitation is the one notable exception. However, implementation of this resource-intensive program in real-life settings, and in particular, for underserved communities, has proven to be challenging. Safety-net centers that serve primarily under-insured populations lack financial resources to provide pulmonary rehabilitation.~The 10-week COPD Wellness and Plus+ Program directly addresses this gap, and yet, programs like these do not automatically lead to improved outcomes, which leads to the implementation of a Health Advocates program to address participant's social needs and barriers to healthcare.