Efficacy of a school-based cardiac health promotion intervention program for African-American adolescents

Objective: African-American adolescents are twice as likely to develop hypertension in early adulthood than adolescents from other racial groups. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a school-based health promotion intervention. Method: Participants were African-American adolescents aged between 14 and 17 years attending an urban high school. The 9-week intervention program focused on the participants' knowledge, diet, exercise, and blood pressure. Conclusions: The intervention program was efficacious in knowledge (p = .0001), exercise (p = .0001), as well as fruit and vegetable intake (p = .0001). Differences in systolic (p = .5548) and diastolic (p = .9719) blood pressure levels were not significant. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.