African American Women's Perceptions of Personal Risks for Heart Disease

For the past 80 years heart disease has been the number one cause of death among both men and women in the United States. Literature has shown that more African American women are developing and dying from heart disease than any other ethnic group, yet they are less likely than European American women to know that they have the major risk factors for heart disease. The purpose of this study is to determine the overall knowledge and health beliefs about heart disease among African American women. The health belief model’s (HBM) six constructs: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self efficacy will be applied as the theoretical framework for the study. The research questions are aimed to determine whether there is an association between participants’ (a) knowledge of heart disease risk factors, (b) knowledge of heart attack symptoms, (c) perceptions of personal risk for heart disease, and (d) demographic background and their awareness of heart disease.  Snowball sampling will be used to recruit participants. Email, LinkedIn, and Facebook invitations with the American Heart Association (AHA) Women’s Health Study Google doc will be sent to all family, friends, and associates that meet the criteria for participation. Multiple regression analysis will be used to analyze the association between (a) knowledge of heart disease risk factors, (b) knowledge of heart attack symptoms, and (c) perceived risk for heart disease and their awareness of heart disease. The results can be used for the development of further educational programs.