Outcomes of a Cardiovascular Nutrition Counseling Program in African-Americans with Elevated Blood Pressure or Cholesterol Level

Improving heart health among Black/African American women using civic engagement: a pilot study

“…These differences in effectiveness could be due to a variety of factors including, cultural appropriateness of interventions, time constraints and adherence to interventions, and resources [2–5]. The relatively few interventions developed specifically for Blacks/African Americans indicate that it is possible to achieve significant improvements in risk behaviors and biological parameters when culture, values, beliefs, and unique barriers are taken into account [6–14]. Despite this evidence and the large disparities in CVD risk, few gender- and culture-specific CVD prevention interventions exist [8, 11–15].…”

Nutrition and Health Literacy: A Systematic Review to Inform Nutrition Research and Practice

“…All Internet studies focused solely on English language sites except the study by Berland and colleagues (39), which used validated English and Spanish versions of the Fry Readability Graph (49) and found that 100% of the English sites and 86% of the Spanish Web sites required a reading level of high school or greater. Of the 13 nutrition-related health literacy studies reviewed (Table 2), six were experimental (52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57) and seven were nonexperimental, including four cross-sectional quantitative studies (58)(59)(60)(61), two qualitative studies (62,63), and one mixed methods study (64). Sample sizes of the six experimental studies ranged from 28 to 351 participants, and each implemented a low-literacy nutrition intervention by revising nutrition education materials to lower the readability level or by employing other design strategies primarily to enhance reading comprehension.…”

“…Sample sizes of the six experimental studies ranged from 28 to 351 participants, and each implemented a low-literacy nutrition intervention by revising nutrition education materials to lower the readability level or by employing other design strategies primarily to enhance reading comprehension. Intervention dose and duration varied substantially ranging from a one-time exposure to a food label comprehension intervention (54) to a 12-month intervention with multiple modes of content delivery (ie, food picture cards, nutrition guide, video and audio tapes, and group classes) (56). Furthermore, there was a diverse range of control or comparison conditions, including standard Extension nutrition education materials (52), other written materials (54), a general nutrition class (53), low literacy materials with minimal in-person and audio visual instruction (56), and no nutrition education (57).…”

“…Intervention dose and duration varied substantially ranging from a one-time exposure to a food label comprehension intervention (54) to a 12-month intervention with multiple modes of content delivery (ie, food picture cards, nutrition guide, video and audio tapes, and group classes) (56). Furthermore, there was a diverse range of control or comparison conditions, including standard Extension nutrition education materials (52), other written materials (54), a general nutrition class (53), low literacy materials with minimal in-person and audio visual instruction (56), and no nutrition education (57). When compared with control conditions, intervention groups had significantly higher knowledge (eg, test scores) gains, yet no studies demonstrated significant effects for changes in anthropometric or biological measures (ie, body mass index, blood pressure, and lipid profiles), and effects related to eating patterns were mixed.…”

Behavioral Strategies for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Diverse and Underserved Racial/Ethnic Groups

“…Twelve month follow-up demonstrated an average 7 to 8 percent reduction in total cholesterol in both the self-help and full-instruction groups, with the largest reductions in those who reported greater use of the counseling materials. 83 …”