HYPERTENSION AWARENESS IN THE MALE BLACK BRITISH IN WEST-MIDLAND

In spite of this, most patients with elevated blood pressure levels are less aware of the blood pressure levels and therefore receive inadequate treatment (Cappuccio 1997). The proposed study focuses on hypertension in the black community. The current study aims at raising awareness to decrease hypertension in male British with African or Caribbean descent. The will employ a qualitative method of collecting data. This will involve the use of interviews on a selected population of male British Afro-Caribbean population. Researches have highlighted the fact that people of African descent or British Afro-Caribbean are at twice the high risk of suffering from hypertension and the related cardiovascular diseases (Agyemang and Bhopal 2003). The risks of a stroke are two times greater for British Afro-Caribbean population (Agyemang and Bhopal 2003).

Also, an End-stage renal disease associated with hypertension appears to be five times greater from the British Afro-Caribbean community (Agyemang and Bhopal 2003). Even though hypertension affects all elements of the British population, the rates of prevalence are higher among men and women in the Afro-Caribbean community (American Heart Association 2017). According to a study conducted by Cruickshank (1985) revealed that the high occurrence of hypertension in people of the African origin in the United Kingdom is three or four times more widespread as compared to the British Caucasian community. Hypertension prevalence in the ethnic minority groups in UK is higher when compared to that of the Caucasians in the same region. Therefore, hypertension management by the Afro-Caribbean males should enable them to recognize the various response to drug treatment, the cardiovascular consequences and predisposing factors of hypertension.

The current study aims at raising awareness to decrease hypertension in males over 50 years old British with African or Caribbean descent in the west midlands. METHODOLOGY The author will discuss in this chapter the methods that will be used when collecting data for the study. This includes search engines and databases, the search limitations and the search process. In qualitative research the methods of selecting participants is based on purposive sampling which includes the selection of a small sample size with the aim of getting a thorough understanding of the targeted concept. In quantitative research, the selection of participants is based on random sampling whereby a large study sample is selected in order to generalize the results to the entire population.

It is much easier to use qualitative methods in research because, it uses elements such as pictures, words and objects to analyze data. Quantitative research on the other hand uses numerical data to analyze data, something that is technical and time consuming. Search Engines The involvement of the author in the nursing field and having placements on cardiac wards has played a key role in facilitating the location and identification of quality sources of data for the proposed study. Such an approach assumes that the titles of these publications clearly explains the subjects as well as the methods used in the studies (Bowen and Wiersema 1999). More often, qualitative studies tend to use titles that could be referred to as descriptive (Evans 2002).

Descriptive titles clearly tend to explain the main aim of the studies. Furthermore, descriptive titles are normally appropriate with regards to the nature of the qualitative research (Berg, Lune, and Lune 2004). In most cases, the use of descriptive titles during database searches does not present any problems, and indeed they end up providing rich descriptions of the research studies (Berg, Lune, and Lune 2004). Besides that, the author also examined the reference lists of the researched articles to identify any papers or authors that were referenced multiple times (Vakkari, Pennanen, and Serola 2003). Such investigation helps to select the most relevant journals, researchers in the field (Vakkari, Pennanen, and Serola 2003). The keywords that were used in this search process were sufficient to help broaden the search results (Vakkari, Pennanen, and Serola 2003).

This study required an extremely sensitive search and the search strategy employed was sufficient to help locate any potentially relevant research article (Vakkari, Pennanen, and Serola 2003). LITERATURE REVIEW A study conducted by Lane, Beevers, and Lip in 2002 sought to study the occurrence of hypertension and the mean blood pressures in people with an Afro-Caribbean and South Asian origin in England. Agyemang and Bhopal (2003) sought to analyze published evidence regarding blood pressure levels and hypertension incidence in the adult populations of African origin who are living in the UK when compared to the Caucasian population. The authors conducted a systematic literature review and identified 14 studies that have been conducted in the London region. The findings of the study revealed significant disparities between the studies based on the sex and age of the participants, how Africans are defined and the methods used in assessing blood pressure.

The studies revealed a greater mean diastolic blood pressure in African men compared to their Caucasian counterparts. The studies also showed that ethnic group disparities were absent among the younger participants. (2011) conducted a study to assess whether the continuous monitoring of hypertension, as well as the referral programs performed by barbers, encourages male patrons with elevated high blood pressure to pursue physician follow-up, resulting in enhanced control of hypertension. The study was a randomized cluster trial of high blood pressure control carried in a selected group of black male patrons from 17 barbershops owned by blacks. The participants went through a 10-week baseline screening of blood pressure, and the study sites were randomized to a comparison group that obtained standard blood pressure pamphlets.

In the study, barbers encouraged 50 percent of their patrons with hypertension to seek medical attention. This behavior backs up the theoretical underpinning of the behavior theory-based intervention which states that barbers act as persuasive peers who facilitate treatment-seeking behavior among hypertensive individuals (Victor et al. They cite a Health Survey conducted in England which revealed that the hypertension occurrence was 27. 9 percent in individuals aged between 40 and 79 years and 49. 9 percent in individuals aged 80 years and above (Lane and Lip 2001). The article reveals that British Afro-Caribbean people respond less well to treatment with antihypertensive drugs compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Most of the research trials have demonstrated that Afro-Caribbean patients respond poorly to monotherapy with drugs that tend to suppress the renin-angiotensin system.

Gillum (1999) in a review discusses the risk factors for stroke in the black population. He claims that in the black population, factors such as advanced age, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and smoking are the only possible risk factors for stroke. It follows that higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, smoking, high lipoprotein level and low socioeconomic status may contribute to mortality and higher stroke prevalence in Black people living in the US as compared to Whites. The authors examine data collected from the US National Centre for Health as well as the epidemiologic studies of stroke in Black populations. Studies were reviewed in an effort to perform a critical examination of the current state of knowledge and offer suggestions for further research and prevention (Gillum 1999).

But, their mean blood pressure levels appears to be higher in Afro-Caribbean men than in Caucasian men. Gillum (1999) on the other hand present their findings on the increased risk for stroke in both the White and Black population of the United States. The authors claim that smoking is a risk factor for stroke among men and women of the African descent. This is also supported by Lane, Beevers, and Lip (2002) whereby the rate of smoking has been observed to be higher in women of the African descent than in Caucasian women. The study also shows that there lacks any significant difference in the rates of smoking in men of different ethnic groups. Furthermore, the studies failed to access social class as a risk factor for high blood pressure.

This is because, most of the participants in the studies emerged from low social class. These studies are among the few that have failed to investigate the link between socio-economic status and blood pressure among the ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom. Agyemang and Bhopal (2003) shows that factors such as socio-economic status, diet, and religion are important determinant of health. This also evident in Victor et al. Age, socio-economic status, body mass index, smoking and alcohol consumption seem to be independent factors of hypertension in those studies. The level of awareness in older men of an African descent should be elevated to help minimize its prevalence. Cholesterol levels can be managed in people with hypertension using communication approaches that would help change their behavior in the target population.

The previous studies have not demonstrated the importance of weight management programs in the management and control of hypertension. Therefore it is difficult to draw any causal associations at this point of the discussion due to the nature of the present study. The research identified relevant opinions among black hypertensive patients that add to the knowledge of the proper management of hypertension in this population. As well, it demands additional research to help determine if such opinions are characteristic of this population. To be certain, a significant finding is that within the black community, different opinions in regards to hypertension and people may be holding different opinions at the same time. If future studies confirm this, then the implication for practice is that healthcare professionals should strive to obtain the opinions of individual patients and tailor care to suit their needs (Raleigh 1997).

Interestingly, the study revealed that while a majority of people understood that high blood pressure was pronounced by the visibility of symptoms like headaches and palpitations some of them believed that the lack of such symptoms implied the absence of high blood pressure (Cruickshank et al. Social platforms will enable easy sharing of videos that explain and demonstrate the severity of hypertension and the long-term impacts of the disease upon the life of an individual. Most organizations and hypertension associations develop video clips that show the effects of hypertension. This is a great way to get other yet unaffected male individuals from the British Afro-Caribbean community to become engaged as well as educated. Raising of funds can be an essential way to help provide funding to British Afro-Caribbean males who are unable to gain access to health care due to lack of funds.

Furthermore, fundraising is a great way to raise awareness on hypertension. Proper monitoring, screening, and referral programs have been proven to increase access to health care and the knowledge of hypertension among the minority communities (Flack et al. Strategies that are based on the health-care system may be similarly important in minimizing the differences in hypertension given the dissimilarities in health outcomes which seem to prevail among different racial groups that are secondary to recognized barriers. Furthermore, real approaches that may help to reduce the differences because of the prevailing recognized barriers include cultural proficiency training as well as quality improvement efforts that are based on the quality of data. In addition, the provision of cultural competency training to the health care providers may help improve the quality of health-care combined with patient satisfaction and improved health.

The health care system of the UK may utilize large data information technology and electronic medical records to help in reducing disparities in hypertension (Ibrahim and Damasceno 2012). Additionally, weight loss management should be an important goal, since it translates into a decrease in blood pressure. Moreover, patients should be advised to engage in a lot of physical activity, quit smoking, reduce their intake of alcohol and always check their cholesterol levels. When administered as monotherapy, some antihypertensive drugs have been noted to exert a great amount of efficiency in lowering blood pressure when compared with other categories of antihypertensive like ACE inhibitors and B blockers. Therefore, most black patients will need to receive treatment with more than one class of antihypertensive drugs to achieve blood pressure control (Brown 2006).

The prevention, as well as control of hypertension in black individuals, is crucial since this population has a greater incidence of hypertension than other groups. Even though there is an increase in the awareness of hypertension, the target population remains with a significantly greater occurrence of hypertension when matched to their Caucasian counterparts. Moreover, the British Afro-Caribbean males are more likely to maintain poor control in terms of managing hypertension. Also, some groups in the British Afro-Caribbean male community of the UK are less knowledgeable about the treatment and control of hypertension when compared to the British Caucasians. References Agyemang, C. and Bhopal, R. L. , Strogatz, D. S. , Garrett, J. M. S. Physical health and self-esteem. Family & Community Health: The Journal of Health Promotion & Maintenance.

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, Malliani, A. and Thom, S. M. , and Damasceno, A. Hypertension in developing countries. The Lancet, 380(9841), pp. Lane, D. Y. H. Ethnic differences in hypertension and blood pressure control in the UK. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 94(7), pp. Laragh, J. Hypertension in a black population: prevalence and biosocial determinants of high blood pressure in a group of urban Nigerians. Journal of Human Hypertension, 14(4), p. Petrella, R. J. , Speechley, M. , Ramsay, M. , Crowther, N. J. and Norris, S. A. , and Brazil, K. Revisiting the quantitative-qualitative debate: Implications for mixed-methods research. Quality and quantity, 36(1), pp. Scragg, R. , Sowers, M. Information processing & management, 39(3), pp. Victor, R. G. , Ravenell, J. E. and Coxson, P. G. Effectiveness of a barber-based intervention for improving hypertension control in black men: the BARBER-1 study: a cluster randomized trial.