PURPOSE: A comprehensive worksite health promotion program designed to reduce risk factors for @entity65 among 4000 city of Birmingham employees was used to develop and implement a tailored antihypertensive educational intervention. The mean age of the underlying population was 36 years, 89% were blue-collar or unskilled workers, 50% were African Americans and 20% were female. METHODS: First, we identified barriers to @entity101 control: low literacy, difficulty understanding the need for treatment of @entity10094 , and wide variability of health beliefs and priorities. We then tailored an educational program, which offered employees health education sessions on a variety of different topics, including @entity299 , @entity5 , @entity25 and @entity13400 . All program materials focused on lifestyle changes and the need to seek medical care. This program was offered to all @entity101 workers; 130 chose to enroll, and 81 completed the program. These 81 @entity1 were matched by age, sex, race and baseline BP with nonparticipating @entity101 workers (controls). Changes in @entity13519 and @entity13520 from before to after the educational program were used to evaluate the program. RESULTS: Overall, intervention @entity1 had a decrease of 4.5 mm Hg in mean @entity13519 (different from zero, [p = 0.03]). African American @entity1 showed a significant decrease (7.4 mm Hg, [p = 0.004]), as did unskilled intervention @entity1 ( @entity13519 changes = 7.7 mm Hg, [p = 0.004]). Although not statistically significant, controls showed decreases in BP in the same direction. CONCLUSION: An educational intervention tailored to the specific health perceptions and working conditions of a low literacy population is feasible, and may have a significant effect on @entity101 control.

A XXXX control program tailored to unskilled and minority workers.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants'] @entity101 :: ('MESH:D006973', 'Disease') :: ['hypertension', 'hypertensive'] @entity25 :: ('MESH:D012893', 'Disease') :: ['sleep disorders'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['cancer'] @entity10094 :: ('MESH:D058070', 'Disease') :: ['asymptomatic disease'] @entity13519 :: ('8991', 'Gene') :: ['SBP'] @entity299 :: ('MESH:D006331', 'Disease') :: ['heart disease'] @entity13520 :: ('1628', 'Gene') :: ['DBP'] @entity13400 :: ('MESH:D019567', 'Disease') :: ['back injury'] @entity65 :: ('MESH:D002318', 'Disease') :: ['cardiovascular disease']
@entity101 :: (MESH:D006973,Disease) :: ['hypertension']
