CHW Intervention to Improve Nutrition Security of Patients With Hypertension

Overview

The goal of this study is to implement and evaluate a randomized pilot study of a 4-month Nutrition-enhanced community health worker (CHW) intervention for primary care patients with nutrition insecurity and poorly controlled hypertension. The nutrition intervention will be added to the pre-existing Massachusetts General Hospital CHW hypertension (Basic CHW) program that provides hypertension education, coaching about adherence to medications and primary care visits, and home BP cuffs and promotion of BP self-monitoring over the course of approximately 4 months.

The goal of this study is to implement and evaluate a randomized pilot study of a 4-month Nutrition-enhanced CHW intervention in primary care patients with nutrition insecurity and poorly controlled hypertension. The nutrition intervention will be added to the pre-existing Massachusetts General Hospital CHW hypertension (Basic CHW) that provides basic hypertension education, coaching about adherence to medications and primary care visits, and home BP cuffs and promotion of BP self-monitoring over the course of approximately 4 months. The CHW nutrition intervention curriculum is tailored to the needs and preferences of a food-insecure population with limited resources. Nutrition education materials will be provided to participants, including a booklet of nutrition information and a summarized version of key points on a brochure that they can use as a quick reference when grocery shopping. Nutrition education will focus on reducing sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars and increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Much of the educational material is based on a traffic-light system. These topics are organized into four modules: nutrition label reading, grocery shopping, meal-planning, and healthy cooking.