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

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

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.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04404478.

Keywords: African American; cardiovascular diseases; community-based participatory research; heart disease risk factors; intervention studies; women’s health services.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

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Figure 1
Collaborative research activities.

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