Hypertension in multicultural and minority populations: linking communication to compliance

Cardiovascular disease disproportionately affects minority populations, in part because of multiple sociocultural factors that directly affect compliance with antihypertensive medication regimens. Compliance is a complex health behavior determined by a variety of socioeconomic, individual, familial, and cultural factors. In general, provider-patient communication has been shown to be linked to patient satisfaction, compliance, and health outcomes. In multicultural and minority populations, the issue of communication may play an even larger role because of linguistic and contextual barriers that preclude effective provider-patient communication. These factors may further limit compliance. The ESFT Model for Communication and Compliance is an individual, patient-based communication tool that allows for screening for barriers to compliance and illustrates strategies for interventions that might improve outcomes for all hypertensive patients.