BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a major public health problem both for Arkansas and the nation. The prevalence of hypertension for Arkansans varies considerably by race with 46% of African Americans having hypertension compared to 39% of Whites. The mission of the Arkansas Minority Barber & Beauty Shop (ARBBS) Health Initiative is to increase public awareness about heart disease and stroke. The goal is to empower minorities to better understand hypertension prevention and management.
METHODS: During each ARBBS health screening event, screening and survey data were obtained from participants using a survey event form. From this data, chronic disease risk levels were cross tabulated by demographic characteristics, access to care status, knowledge of disease, and most importantly by risk factors. Data obtained from Nursing Referral and Patient Follow-up forms were utilized to examine compliance among participants receiving referrals. Weighted Kappa Coefficients were calculated to measure the significance of the difference in knowledge gained following the interventions.
RESULTS: Based on standard definitions, 31.7% of the participants had normal blood pressure, the majority of the participants had normal cholesterol levels (77.8%), normal glucose levels (80.6%) and about half (49.9%) were at a high risk BMI, or obese. Among the multiple-choice, pre-post questions, the largest positive change was in the question “What is a normal total cholesterol level?”, with a 24.3 point increase in the percentage of correct responses. All remaining multiple-choice questions were statistically significant and made a positive directional change. Among true-false questions, the largest positive change was in question “Symptoms of a heart attack-Nausea/flu-like Symptoms”, with an 18.2 point increase in the percentage of correct responses. The majority of true-false questions were statistically significant with all questions making a positive directional change.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on these data we can conclude that there was a significant change in knowledge of blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and what to do when having a heart attack or stroke among ARBBS participants. There was a significant change in the percent of participants responding correctly in the pre- and post-tests with all questions making a positive directional change with 8 out of 14 (57%) of these significant at the .05 level. These results indicate that the majority of the participants gained knowledge and awareness in regards to the symptoms of a stroke and a heart attack.