Health professionals know what "cardiovascular health" means in medical terms - but what does it mean to at-risk people and communities that need to adopt heart-healthy behaviors?
To find out, researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, conducted a pilot study in which teens and adults were given cameras and asked to take pictures showing community concerns about heart health. They recruited African-American participants from a rural, low-income community in North Carolina - part of the "stroke belt" that runs through the southeastern United States.
Eight 90-minute sessions were held to discuss the photos. Three themes emerged:
- In addition to medically recommended behaviors that reduce heart risk, participants spoke of mental, spiritual, and social determinants of heart health. Stress, particularly stress resulting from racial prejudice, was frequently discussed.
- Participants endorsed personal responsibility for behavior change over ecological factors affected health behaviors.
- To promote healthy behaviors in their communities, teens stressed the importance of social factors while adults stressed spiritual factors.
"Given the importance of both adults and adolescents in cardiovascular health promotion, a life-course perspective, which accounts for adolescence as a critical period in behavioral development, may be helpful when designing and implementing cardiovascular health interventions and policies (e.g., population-based early-life intervention programs) and identifying positive developmental health assets for cardiovascular disease prevention," the study authors suggest.
Using Photovoice to Understand Barriers to and Facilitators of Cardiovascular Health Among African American Adults and Adolescents, North Carolina, 2011-2012,