Promoting heart health for Southeast Asians: a database for planning interventions

This paper is a report of baseline data that the authors collected on the prevalence of hypertension in a sample of 397 Southeast Asian immigrants residing in central Ohio and the implications of those data for the design of ethnically approved and scientifically valid interventions. The context for collection of these data over a 9-month period in 1989 is described. Baseline demographic characteristics including distributions by ethnicity, sex, age, and length of stay in the United States, as well as family heart health history, hypertension level, and heart health awareness of these subjects are presented. For example, 85 percent of the immigrants did not know what could be done to prevent heart disease. Implications for the design of ethnically approved and scientifically valid prevention strategies are discussed. Based on these data, the authors realized that multiple health education strategies tailored to what they were learning about Southeast Asians would be needed. Through Southeast Asian leaders, they were led to using wall calendars, with words specific to each Southeast Asian language, that had a monthly heart health slogan as one avenue to reach Southeast Asians. Another strategy was to develop videotapes featuring cultural content but including heart health "commercials." The authors concluded that, although scientific validity of risk reduction interventions are important, customizing these strategies to ethnically specific modes of interaction are equally important.