Evaluation of Nursing Interventions Designed to Impact Knowledge, Behaviors, and Health Outcomes for Rural African-Americans: An Integrative Review

Objective: The purpose of this review is to evaluate published nursing research reports of effective health promotion strategies for preventing cardiovascular disease, cancer and stroke among rural African Americans. Design and Sample: A review of the nursing literature was conducted to select intervention studies published within the past decade (2004-2014). An integrative review method was adapted to evaluate, analyze, and synthesize the nursing research articles that met the inclusion criteria. Results: Data evaluation encompassed displaying the data in a literature matrix for the appraisal of research components employed in the studies. The major intervention strategies reported in the health promotion studies were reduced, displayed in tables, and synthesized. The resultant comparison of the studies can potentially guide nurse researchers in designing health promotion interventions targeting rural African Americans. Discussion: Public health nurses are uniquely qualified to assist in the national goals of eliminating health disparities for population groups at risk for poor health outcomes by the development and implementation of evidence-based health promotion interventions. Assisting healthy individuals within community settings reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and cancer can potentially decrease mortality rates associated with these diseases and improve health equity for disadvantaged populations.