Co-Designing a Program to Lower Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Midlife Black Women.

Holly J Jones,Melinda Butsch Kovacic,Sheila Nared,Julie Wijesooriya,Jacqueline Humphries,Tamilyn Bakas

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031356

Abstract

Midlife Black women suffer disproportionately from heart disease and stroke in comparison to White women of similar age and demographic. Risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke is largely considered to be modifiable yet CVD prevention and awareness campaigns have been less effective among Black women. Decreased awareness of personal CVD risk is associated with delays in the presentation of women to the emergency room or health care providers for symptoms of myocardial infarction. The Midlife Black Women’s Stress and Wellness (B-SWELL) program was designed to increase awareness about CVD risk factors, stress, and healthy lifestyle behaviors among midlife Black women. In partnership with an existing Community Research Advisory Board (C-RAB), materials were developed and culturally adapted for the B-SWELL program. Following successful development of the B-SWELL materials, a trial of the B-SWELL program was conducted with a sample of midlife Black women recruited from the community. The program was co-facilitated by members of the C-RAB. We outline the strategies used to successfully co-create and trial the B-SWELL program materials and reflect on the strengths and challenges associated with the development of a culturally tailored heart disease prevention program using community participatory methods.

Highlights

Midlife Black women in America have a 69% higher death rate from heart disease and double the death rate from stroke compared to White women [1]
The Black Women’s Stress and Wellness (B-SWELL) program was conceptualized as a program to leverage stress reduction and culturally appropriate strategies to increase the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors among midlife Black women
A formal partnership was established between the principal investigator (PI) and the Community Research Advisory Board (C-RAB) (Appendix A)

Summary

Introduction

Midlife Black women in America have a 69% higher death rate from heart disease and double the death rate from stroke compared to White women [1]. Of adult Black women have some type of heart disease and 40% have hypertension, a major precursor to heart disease. Heart disease and many of its related conditions are largely modifiable and preventable through healthy lifestyle behaviors. National campaigns such as those supported by the American. Heart Association (AHA), have failed to increase awareness of relative heart disease risk in women of color, Black women [3,4]. Reasons proposed for the failure to improve CVD awareness in Black women include a lack of tailored and targeted awareness campaigns and limited access to cardiovascular screenings [5]

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