Reducing Disparities in the Treatment of Hypertension Using the OWL mHealth Tool

This is a one-year study. The study's primary outcome is successful improvement of the Our Whole Lives for Hypertension (OWL-H) online patient education platform, based upon participant use and focus group feedback, to deliver information on self-management of hypertension and other cardiac risk factors, and to encourage self-monitoring of blood pressure.

Specific Aim 1 - To pilot test the OWL-H platform for 8 weeks with 26 patients with hypertension (2 groups of 13) to refine its utility for home self-monitoring (number of times patients record home blood pressure and input this data onto OWL-H and engagement of self-management (i.e. # of logins, # of mind body sessions completed, # of times modules accessed each day)). Hypothesis 1: Eighty percent of patients will log in and record their blood pressures.

Specific Aim 2 - At the end of each group, hold a focus group to obtain information about: 1) the barriers and facilitators of using the OWL-H platform and using OWL-H to self-monitor blood pressure at home, 2) satisfaction with OWL-H, 3) how OWL-H helped with reduction of number of cardiac risk factors (e.g., smoking, eating habits, perceived stress, and amount of exercise and health-related quality of life).

This is a one-year pre post clinical study. The study's primary outcome is successful improvement of the Our Whole Lives for Hypertension (OWL-H) online patient education platform, based upon participant use and focus group feedback, to deliver information on self-management of hypertension and other cardiac risk factors, and to encourage self-monitoring of blood pressure. We piloted online OWL-H platform for 8 weeks with 26 patients with hypertension to refine its utility for home self-monitoring. We also held a focus group to obtain information about: 1) the barriers and facilitators of using the OWL-H platform and using OWL-H to self-monitor blood pressure at home, 2) satisfaction with OWL-H, 3) how OWL-H helped with reduction of number of cardiac risk factors

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Male and female subjects of all races and ethnicities who are English-speaking adults over the age of 18 and who have a current diagnosis of hypertension.. OWL in currently only available in English.
* Subjects' physical and mental health status will be sufficient to be able to comprehend instructions and participate in the interventions.
* Subjects must be able to access computer technology (cellular phone, desktop, laptop) and the internet to utilize the online OWL-H.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Serious underlying systemic or co-morbid disease, including psychotic or manic symptoms, which preclude physical or cognitive ability to participate in the intervention.

The risk-benefit ratio of the interventions for these individuals may be potentially higher than acceptable.

* Active substance abuse, given that individuals who have active substance abuse pose a higher risk both to themselves and other members of the groups.
* Beginning new hypertension treatments in the past week or planning to begin new hypertension treatments in the next few weeks, or planning a major medical event in the next few weeks, which would interfere with accurately determining the effect of the intervention on impact in this study.
* Subjects who are pregnant will be not included in this study given that the risk-benefit ratio of this intervention may be higher than acceptable for these individuals due to the potential onset of non-study related gestational diabetes and/or gestational hypertension. Determination of pregnancy status will be based upon subject self-report.
* Subjects who are not willing to participate in the intervention or attend the group visits.