Educating Rural Women about Gender Specific Heart Attack and Prodromal Symptoms

Problem: Heart Disease (HD) remains the leading cause of mortality among women. Improvement of outcomes for morbidity and mortality in females with HD has not occurred at the same rate as in males. Rural populations often have more barriers to seeking timely intervention than their urban counterparts. Purpose: To test the efficacy of using acronyms to educate rural women on female MI and prodromal symptoms as well as the appropriate response to these symptoms and to assess if knowledge gained was sustained for a 2-month period of time. Method: A quasi-experimental design with two groups with site randomization of educational intervention with N = 137 rural women (RUCC codes of 5 or higher). Factor analysis, validity and reliability testing for the 23 item Matters of Your Heart Scale (v. 2) are discussed.