The goals of this education outreach demonstration study were to prepare a cadre of registered nurses (RN) as Church Health Educators (CHE), and to test the efficacy of a hypertension (HBP) education and support program in African American (AA) churches for persons with HBP in managing blood pressure (BP). In this two-phase study, RNs were prepared as CHEs in phase 1 and a convenience sample of 97 subjects with HBP was taught by the CHEs in phase 2. The intervention's content included the bases of HBP and HBP management strategies, and was taught in eight 1-hour sessions. Using a pre-test-post-test design, data on knowledge, social support and BP were collected at baseline (pre), post-intervention (post1) and 3 months post-intervention (post2). Major findings include: (1) there was a significant increase in knowledge scores from pre to post1 and post2 (P < or = 0.0001; F = 95.08; df = 1.79); (2) education, age and number of years with HBP explained 49% of the variance associated with HBP knowledge; (3) systolic BP (SBP) and mean arterial BP (MAP) significantly decreased from pre to post1 and post2 (SBP-p < or = 0.0001, F = 18.35, df = 1.91; MAP-p < or = 0.0001, F = 17.80, df = 1.86); (4) DBP significantly decreased from pre to post1 only (p < or = 0.008, F = 17.48, df = 1.91); and (5) relationships were found between social support and DBP, and social support and MAP. Issues that emerged from this study with implications for outreach programming include recruitment and retention, randomization, selective sampling, intervention design and use of volunteers.

Nurses and other healthcare professionals must comprehend the meaning of breast cancer survivorship and its implications for cancer survivors. The meaning of cancer survivorship to African American and ethnic minority women must be explored. Culturally relevant cancer survivorship education and care should be provided for African American women and other cancer survivors of ethnic minorities as well as those involved in the women's social and healthcare world. Nurses and healthcare professionals must continue to advocate for health policies to improve the lived experiences of all cancer survivors.

No abstract

Although considerable gains have been made in hypertension control in the United States, the rate of control in blacks is lower than in whites. It has been asserted that this low control rate in blacks is due to lack of compliance. Using previously tested and new measures, as well as chart audit, this pilot study evaluated the specific role and effectiveness of the black church in promoting compliance with antihypertension regimens. A sample of 63 hypertensive subjects from two inner-city black churches participated; 33 were from a church that had a hypertension screening project and 30 were from one that did not. Clients from the church with the project did not score higher on a self-report compliance measure than those from the church without the project. Furthermore, no relationship was found between support and compliance and blood pressure control, although relationships were seen between age and compliance scores, and between following a doctor's advice and compliance scores. The church without a screening program was viewed by clients as more supportive than the one with the program.

No abstract