Co-created health education intervention among older African American women living with hypertension

Highlights •African American women need a voice in the designing of co-created health education interventions to improve blood pressure.•Participants reported that they intended to continue using the co-created intervention and felt that the intervention fit within their culture, routine, and self-care practices.•Co-created culturally tailored interventions may be the key to improving blood pressure self-care.

Methods Twenty women participated in this study that included four weekly, two-hour group sessions centered on hypertension knowledge and calibration of home blood pressure monitors, stress and interpersonal relationship management, sleep and pain management, and healthy eating. The study took place in the Midwest United States.

Results Descriptive statistics were used to analyze acceptability data that included attendance and a brief investigator-generated questionnaire. Twenty women were enrolled. Sixteen participants attended all four sessions, all reported they intended to continue using the intervention and felt it fit within their culture, routine, and self-care practices. The estimated cost of conducting the intervention was $227.00 (U.S. dollars) per participant.

Conclusions The co-created health education intervention was acceptable. Given the dire need for cost-effective interventions to improve the adoption of health promoting self-care management behavior, to reduce the prevalence of hypertension in African Americans, the results of this study have implications for future research and practice.