141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

276648
Message framing utilization in hypertension research with African American women

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 8:30 AM - 8:50 AM

Alana Russaw, MPH, MA , California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, Sacramento, West Sacramento, CA
Twylla Abrahamson, Ph.D. , California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of message framing on hypertension, medication adherence, diet, and hypertension self-care activities. Message framing has seen increasing exposure in the literature and seems to be accepted well by various populations. Message framing is a new way to disseminate information to the public. The study will employ a quasi-experimental design and convenience sampling method. Data will be collected from 100 African American women from the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, CA and other residents of other Bay Area cities, due to snowball sampling and word of mouth. Pre and post test measures will be administered after a month of women receiving text messages via their cell phones with either a gain or loss framed message. The hypothesis is that African American women will adhere better to loss-framed messages due to the research that has proven so for minority populations. A power analysis was completed to determine exactly how many individuals were needed to participate in the study. The instruments used to collect data were a Demographic form, the Morisky-Adherence Scale, Hypertension Scale for Self Care Activities (H-SCALE), Medficts, and current hypertension readings per self-report. T-tests will be used to determine if significant differences exist between the two groups receiving gain-framed or loss-framed messages on blood pressure readings, medication adherence, diet, and hypertension self-care activities. The results of this study will help provide knowledge on the hypertension status of African American women to the general public.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Diversity and culture
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate the effects of gain versus loss framed messaging in research with African American women. Analyze what needs to occur for African American women to adhere to a treatment regimen for chronic illness.

Keywords: Hypertension, Minority Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the dissertation student working along side a Chair person to collect and analyze the data and information presented.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.