Interventions

Who is the intervention targeting?

African American patients with hypertension, a cardiovascular disease risk factor

What intervention is being evaluated?

Patients will participate in alternating face-to-face meetings (with a trained health educator) and telephone counseling calls (with a trained peer coach who has been successful in reaching health behavior goals themselves) over the course of 5 months. The peer coach and health educator will address attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control when helping the patient reduce cardiovascular disease risk focusing on medication adherence, exercise, and diet. The health educator and peer coach will concurrently monitor patient progress as part of a team-based care model.

Where is this intervention taking place?

Primary care practices serving predominantly African American urban neighborhood

Lead Organization
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Why might this approach work?

Care from a primary care physician alone does not always meet the broad range of patient needs.  This patient-centered medical home model will expand the health care team to include a health educator and peer coach to provide comprehensive care to patients.

How will this intervention be evaluated?

280 patients will be randomly assigned to the intervention or control group (print materials only).  Clinical outcomes include coronary artery disease risk factors and systolic blood pressure. Patients will also complete a satisfaction survey.  Additionally, the evaluation will measure the direct costs of the intervention to inform other health care practices considering a similar program.

Principal Investigators:
Barbara J. Turner, MD, MSED
Mark Weiner, MD
Susan Day, MD

For More Information

Please Contact:
Kavita Pandit
kavita.p.pandit@gmail.com