Cardiovascular risk factor screening satisfaction in the Heart of New Ulm Project

Community-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor screening programs have been used successfully in rural health improvement initiatives. However, little is known about what consumers like or dislike about them, which is a barrier to the design of future process improvements. The objective of this study was to examine the degree to which health risks and participant characteristics predicted screening satisfaction.

This study utilized a cross-sectional survey design.

Data was collected as part of the broader Heart of New Ulm Project, which is a community-based CVD prevention demonstration project based in rural Minnesota.

There were 126 randomly invited individuals from the CVD risk factor screenings, with 118 individuals who agreed to participate and had complete data available for analyses.

A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between demographics, lifestyle, and biometric risk factors and screening satisfaction.

Twenty percent of respondents indicated some level of dissatisfaction with the screening process. Satisfied participants were more likely to be female (OR=4.15), not have an optimal lifestyle (OR=3.47), and have an intention to improve their lifestyle habits (OR=3.26). Age, education, and CVD risk level were not significant predictors in the final model.

Satisfaction was high in this screening program, with healthy males being least satisfied with their experience. This has implications for the design of future intervention efforts, as they may require specific programmatic features and more specialized, targeted marketing strategies to attract a broad spectrum of participants likely to benefit.