A community health worker intervention to improve management of hypertension among Filipino Americans in New York and New Jersey: a pilot study.

Objective: The purpose of the pilot study was to assess the feasibility and efficacy of a 4-month community health worker (CHW) intervention to improve hypertension management among Filipino immigrants in New York and New Jersey.

Design: Single-arm CHW pilot intervention using a pre-post design delivered by 5 CHWs.

Setting: New York City, NY and Jersey City, NJ.

Participants: Of 88 Filipino individuals recruited for the study, 39 received the full pilot intervention, 18 received a partial intervention, and 31 dropped out; 13 Filipino participants, 10 CHW Trainers, and 3 Filipino CHWs were interviewed for qualitative analysis.

Intervention: Individuals participated in 4 workshops related to hypertension management and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and received monthly in-person visits, and twice monthly phone calls individually from a CHW.

Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcomes included blood pressure (BP) reduction and control, appointment keeping, and medication adherence; secondary outcomes included weight, body mass index (BMI), self-efficacy related to diet, exercise, and medication taking, CVD knowledge, and nutrition (salt/ sodium and cholesterol/fat).

Results: A mixed method analysis was used to assess the intervention, utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods. By the end of the intervention, significant changes were exhibited for systolic and diastolic BP, weight, and BMI (P<.01). Significant changes were not seen for medication adherence and appointment keeping, however, CVD knowledge and self-efficacy related to diet and weight management all improved significantly (P<.01). Qualitative findings provided additional information on the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of the intervention.

Conclusions: This pilot CHW intervention showed evidence of feasibility, as well as efficacy, in improving hypertension management and reducing CVD factors in Filipino Americans.