Paper
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Community Based Care Strategies
Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Hispanic College Students: A Pilot Intervention Study
Maureen Rauschhuber, PhD, RN, Jolynn Lowry, MSN, APRN, BC, Annette Etnyre, MSN, RN, Irene Gilliland, MSN, CNS, Renee Sethness, PhD, RN, and Mary Elaine Jones, PhD, RN. School of Nursing and Health Professions, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX, USA
Learning Objective #1: Describe objective and subjective factors placing young adults at risk for cardiac disease.
Learning Objective #2: Identify the role of anger and spirituality related to cardiac disease.
Few studies have described the relationships among cardiovascular disease risk and levels of anger and spirituality in ethnically and socially diverse college women. Purpose: To determine whether an anger management intervention makes a difference in objective indices of cardiovascular risk and subjective measures of anger and spirituality. Method: A quasi-experimental repeated measures design was used with a sample of 78 college students participating in a one semester required wellness course, which included a robust exercise component. Forty-six students in the study group received nine hours of anger management; 32 students in the comparison group received standard wellness education. Objective assessments included blood pressure, fasting blood lipids and glucose, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference. Subjective measures included the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the CDC Self Assessment of Health Risk Profile. All students were measured at the beginning and at the end of the semester, and five months post-course participation. Findings: Most of the students were single females of Hispanic background, with a mean age of 21 years. Half of subjects were overweight or obese; almost one-third had blood pressures greater than 120/80; and twenty-two percent had cholesterol levels greater than 200. Groups did not differ at post measurement on levels of anger or spiritual well being. Analysis using mixed between within ANOVA (repeated measures) revealed no significant differences between groups on subjective or objective measures due to class participation. Significant decreases occurred within groups over time for diastolic blood pressure, glucose, triglycerides and LDL. Scores on anger assessment indicated 41% required referral for anger management. Discussion: College wellness classes may be a mechanism to influence the cascade of specific risk indices of cardiovascular disease but more study is needed to determine the interaction of anger and spiritual well being as influences on cardiac risk.

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