Development of Education Intervention to Improve Awareness and Knowledge of Heart Disease in Hispanic Women at a Non-Profit Organization in Salt Lake City

Heart disease continues to be the primary cause of death for women in the United States (CDC, 2015). In 2009, heart disease killed 292,188 women, and despite the effort of education campaigns, only 54% of women identify that heart disease is their number one killer (CDC, 2014). Hispanic women have been identified to have a much higher risk of developing heart disease when compared with other ethnicities. Hispanic women have a tendency to develop heart disease 10 years earlier than non-Hispanic women (AHA, 2014). Only 3 in 10 Hispanic women are educated of their high risk of heart disease by their primary care doctors (AHA, 2014). Several studies have shown that there is a gap in educational efforts that are tailored to the Hispanic woman. With the determination to address this gap among Hispanic women, a program designed to be delivered in a culturally sensitive manner should be identified to increase Hispanic women's knowledge and awareness of heart disease. Therefore, the purpose of my project is to utilize local promotoras to provide heart-health education to increase knowledge and awareness of heart-disease risks factors and to introduce healthy behaviors to Hispanic women through a program that is tailored to their culture with the objectives of (a) identifying a culturally sensitive educational program on Hispanic women's risk of heart disease, (b) facilitating education and training of promotoras to implement heart disease modules in their educational program, (c) evaluating the effectiveness of the training and materials with the promotoras for cultural relevance and fit for their unique community, and (d) developing a tool kit of resources for the promotoras to use in their program. As part of the implementation and evaluation of this project, "Conozca su Corazon" (CSC) was identified as a culturally sensitive educational program for Hispanic women. I became a facilitator of the CSC program to ensure adequate training and support for the promotoras throughout the initial training and the execution of classes. The promotoras were educated and trained on the CSC program. A post survey and a debriefing session were conducted to evaluate the promotoras' knowledge, confidence and learning experiences from the CSC program. Finally, culturally relevant materials and a list of appropriate resources were collected to ensure that promotoras were equipped with CSC material for future classes. This project aimed to utilize local promotoras to increase knowledge and awareness of heart disease risk factors and to promote healthy lifestyles and behavioral changes to prevent heart disease with the hope to reduce the existing gap in education among Hispanic women.