Healthy Heart Healthy Family: Findings of A NHLBI/HRSA Collaborative For Filipinos in Hawaii

Background: Prevalence of and mortality rates from cardiovascular disease are high among Filipino Americans. Objective: Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, a federally qualified community health center in Honolulu, Hawaii, collaborated with NHLBI to test the impact of the Healthy Heart Healthy Family curriculum facilitated by community health workers on Filipinos with cardiovascular disease risk factors. Methods: From 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, 11 Filipino community health workers were trained to deliver the 11-session curriculum. We enrolled 115 Filipino adults with cardiovascular disease risk factors in 6 groups, each with 2 facilitators. We provided monthly activities following the sessions. Knowledge and clinical measures were assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Results: Most (85%) of participants were women; the mean age was 68 years. At 6 months, we observed an increase in the number of participants taking antihypertensive medications and a decrease in systolic blood pressure from 130 to 126 (p=.03). At 12 months, we found significant decreases in mean total cholesterol from 175 to 163, (p=.007), in percentage told by their physician they have pre-diabetes (p=.06), and in mean fasting glucose from 112 to 105, (p=.04). Post-test knowledge and satisfaction among participants was high. Conclusions: Community health workers have cultural and bilingual tools for building trust and serving as health care navigators. We demonstrated that they can be trained to deliver evidence-based curricula and facilitate improvements to cardiovascular health in Filipino Americans.