Mail Education Is as Effective as In-Class Education in Hypertensive Korean Patients (original) (raw)
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American Journal of Hypertension, 2014
Although improvements have been made in heart health in the United States during the last 2 decades, significant health disparities, stemming from insufficient research and a lack of culturally sensitive service infrastructure, remain for ethnic minority populations. 1 Many ethnic minorities also suffer from insufficient health literacy, which severely limits their ability to "obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions. " 2 Korean Americans, in particular, have encountered stiff language and cultural barriers to accessing the US healthcare system, 3,4 and Korean American seniors have difficulties in managing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure (HBP). We therefore designed a multimodal HBP management program for Korean American seniors aimed at enhancing self-help management skills for HBP, which includes behavioral education 5 and home blood pressure (BP) monitoring, 6 followed by monthly counseling with community health workers 7 and an extensive HBP management-related health literacy exercise component. Detailed information regarding each component of the intervention, including its theoretical underpinning, has been published elsewhere. 5 The positive effect of our original communitybased multifaceted HBP intervention program, which did not have a health literacy component, was demonstrated in background Great strides have been made in improving heart health in the United States during the last 2 decades, yet these strides have not encompassed many ethnic minority populations. There are significant health disparity gaps stemming from both a paucity of valid research and a lack of culturally sensitive interventions. In particular, many Korean Americans with chronic illnesses encounter difficulty navigating the healthcare system because of limited health literacy.
Barriers to care and control of high blood pressure in Korean-American elderly
Ethnicity Disease, 2006
OBJECTIVES: To identify barriers to achieving optimal management of high blood pressure (HBP) among hypertensive Korean-American elderly (KAE).METHODS: This study used data on a subsample of 146 hypertensive KAE from a total of 205 KAE in Maryland who participated in a cardiovascular health assessment study. The study group consisted of 56 males and 90 females with a mean age of 69.8 +/- 6.6 years. The PRECEDE-PROCEED model guided selection of study variables.RESULTS: Many KAE with HBP had no regular HBP care (66%) and did not achieve HBP control (92.5% of KAE with HBP and 77.6% of KAE on HBP medications). Lack of health insurance emerged as a strong barrier to receiving adequate HBP care. Other barriers to HBP care included not having a Korean doctor and not having a regular medical checkup. While 22.4% of KAE on HBP medication had controlled blood pressure (BP), those with more visits to traditional Asian medicine doctors were less likely to have achieved HBP control.CONCLUSIONS: The study unveils some of the multilevel barriers to care and control of HBP uniquely experienced by KAE and suggests the need for developing interventions to assist KAE in managing HBP.
Patient Education and Counseling, 2010
Objective-Nurse telephone counseling can improve the management of chronic conditions, but the effectiveness of this approach in underserved populations is unclear. This study evaluated the use of bilingual nurse-delivered telephone counseling in Korean Americans (KAs) participating in a community-based intervention trial to improve management of hypertension. Methods-KAs were randomized to receive 12 months of hypertension-related telephone counseling that was more intensive (bi-weekly) or less intensive (monthly). Counseling logs were kept for 360 KAs who completed the pre-and post-intervention evaluations. Results-The overall success rate for the intervention was 80.3%. The level of success was significantly influenced by the dose of counseling, employment status, and years of US residence. Over the 12-month counseling period, both groups showed improvement with regard to medication-taking, alcohol consumption, and exercise but not smoking, with no significant group differences. Conclusion-Bilingual telephone counseling could reach monolingual KAs and improve their hypertension management behavior.