Internet Stroke Preparedness for African American Women

Background: African American women exhibit low stroke awareness and may benefit from experiential and lay language description of stroke symptoms. Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effect of an online stroke preparedness intervention for identification of stroke symptoms and appropriate action in response to suspected stroke and estimate effect sizes for a larger study. Methods: A quasi-experimental nonequivalent comparison group design was used to randomized 44 women to intervention (n = 23) or wait-list control group (n = 21). Data were analyzed with Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics to examine intervention effect on (1) self-efficacy to recognize stroke and know what to do in the event of stroke, (2) awareness of stroke symptoms, and (3) behavioral intent to call 911 for suspected stroke. Effect size estimates were calculated by converting z scores to r. Results: Significant intervention effect was found for self-efficacy to know what to do in the event of stroke, ability to identify stroke symptoms presented in written vignettes, and ability to identify correct action in response to symptoms presented in written vignettes. Small to medium effect sizes were obtained. No improvement was found for ability to name stroke symptoms. Behavioral intent to call 911 for stroke in someone else was high, but significantly fewer women would call 911 for themselves. Conclusions: Experiential depictions of stroke symptoms in an online format showed preliminary effectiveness to improve stroke awareness among African American women.