Promotion Recognition Advocacy In Stroke Education (PRAISE): A Faith-Based Asset Approach to Stroke Health Promoting Activities Within the African-American Community

The need to increase stroke awareness, advocacy, and stroke health promoting activities in the African American population is challenging, but it is a vital challenge that is essential to reduce mortality and morbidity related to stroke and eliminates inequalities. Stroke has a substantial burden on the individual and the community. Faith-based organizations as well as the African American churches have been instrumental in providing health-promoting activities within the African American community. The faith-based community can be use as a vehicle in promoting health activities and providing the necessary tools and skills in managing stroke risks and health within the community and individuals. This proposal will describe efforts to address the chronic problem of stroke, complications of stroke, and stroke risks among African Americans in Riverside County through the implementation and evaluation of PRAISE: promotion, recognition, and advocacy in stroke education. PRAISE aims to improve knowledge, awareness, and stroke outcomes for African Americans via a faith-based and asset-based approach by harnessing the resources of the church through advocacy and empowerment. This project will address the impact of collaboration between the formal healthy system and informal health system on stroke outcome among the African American community. This will be a collaborative effort that includes the faith-based health education organization, community health workers, pastors and first ladies of the church, certified nutritionist, physical fitness trainer, a trained chef, a registered nurse, and a motivator. The proposed agenda for the course includes an intensive 12 sessions training course provided in two-hour increments. Participants will be educated on stroke, nutrition and diet, physical fitness, and utilizing available resources within the community and the church to improve health and promote stroke health activities.

Significant change in anthropometric measures, blood pressure level, diet, and physical activities should be observed. Base on previous studies by the rural African American church members in North Carolina they were able to observed an increase of 23% to 33% per day of fruits and vegetables consumptions. The PATHWAYS study showed a weight loss of 10.00 pounds and waist circumference decrement of 2.5 inches after 14 weeks of church-based intervention. It must also be noted that this intervention can expect a 10% of participants in active church-based interventions to achieve a high level of significant in the improvement of cardiovascular diseases risks (Campbell, Demark-Wahnefried, Symons, Kalsbeek, Dodds, Cowan, & et al., 1999; Oexmann, Thomas, Taylow, O’Neil, Garvey, Lackland, et al., 2000; Well, DePue, Lasater, & Carleton, 1988).