A Closer Look at African American Men and High Blood Pressure Control

"A Closer Look at African American Men and High Blood Pressure Control: A Review of Psychosocial Factors and Systems-Level Interventions" highlights resources and systems-level interventions that focus on high blood pressure control among African American men. The information in this book will provide valuable guidance to state and local government agencies, health care organizations, nonprofit organizations, and other decision makers that work to facilitate positive changes in their states and communities. A systems-level intervention is defined as a change in policy, legislation, training, or environmental supports that impacts individual and community-level outcomes. In this book you will find information on lessons learned, considerations, and recommendations for public health programs, in hopes that the information will not only increase the number of systems-level interventions for African American men and blood pressure control, but also provide answer to questions that exist for current interventions. This book summarizes what other public health programs are engaged in and provides the contact information of those programs to support efforts of cross-program learning. Systems-level interventions can focus on organizations, providers, patients, and the health care system as a whole, and also includes media campaigns. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention contracts with RTI International to gather information on system-level interventions through input from an expert panel, key informant interviews conducted with individuals implementing interventions, and from a search of the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature. The review also summarizes data on the burden of high blood pressure and discusses the psychosocial factors associated with having the condition and accessing treatment. Lastly, the review identifies resources on men's health that may be useful when considering the implementation of a new program or expanding and existing one.