Promoting Self-Management of Hypertension in the African-American Church.

Abstract

Hypertension (HTN) continues to be one of the most preventable diseases that have global impact. The prevalence of HTN in African-Americans is considered to be among the highest in the world. This investigation sought to determine whether a church-based self-management program would aid African-American adults (18 years of age and above) in reducing their blood pressure (BP). The theoretical foundation was the Health Belief Model. The clinical question was: Will a church-based American Heart Association (AHA) program on BP self-management decrease BP in African-American adults (aged 18 and above) who belong to a local Christian church? The quantitative methodology and pretest-posttest single group design were used in this investigation. The sample was a convenience sampling of 23 Christian church members. The participants enrolled in the AHA's "Check. Change. Control®. Tracker." There were only two demographic variables that were significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) with the initial BP: age was 0.585 (p = 0.05) and having children was -0.434 (p = 0.039). The paired t-test was computed for the initial and final systolic BPs. The paired t-test for these variables was 1.844 (p = 0.079). The paired t-test was computed for the initial and final diastolic BPs. The paired t-test for these variables was 1.724 (p = 0.079). These results indicated there were no improvements after the intervention. However, data supported clinical significance.