Culturally Relevant App to Improve Heart Health of African American Users Shows Promise, Study Finds

A culturally relevant mobile app designed to the needs of the members of a specific community can have a positive impact on their heart health, a new study by Mayo Clinic has established. According to the study, the researchers have found that a specifically tailored relevant mobile app designed to improve heart health among African Americans in faith communities has shown positive results. The results of the study demonstrate the potential of mobile technologies to positively influence health behaviours that are challenging to change, according to the researchers.

Over the course of a 10-week clinical trial, the researchers found that the participants using the mobile app — part of the Fostering African American Improvement in Total Health (FAITH!) program — experienced significant improvements in overall heart health scores. Their key heart health behaviours related to diet and physical activity among the participants also improved, according to the study, which was published on July 18 in Circulation.

Researchers evaluated each participant's average change in mean heart health score on a scale of 0 to 14 in the last six months, since the intervention through the mobile app. The average heart health scores among the participants increased by nearly two points, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"Our study is the first of its kind integrating an innovative, community-vetted, smartphone-based app into a randomised clinical trial to improve overall heart health among African Americans. Our results are promising in that they demonstrate the potential of mobile technologies to positively influence health behaviours that are challenging to change: diet and physical activity," said LaPrincess Brewer, a Mayo Clinic preventive cardiologist and the principal investigator of the study said.

African Americans are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease compared to the general population in the United States and these differences are driven by underlying cardiovascular risk factors along with social and economic inequality, as per a report by the American Heart Association.  

This study was part of a community research program called Fostering African American Improvement in Total Health (FAITH!). The study focused on addressing health disparities in African American communities. More than 100 African American churches in Rochester city of New York State participated in the programme.

Culturally tailored education modules addressing stress factors and practical strategies to overcome barriers to better health, such as heart-healthy recipes based on traditional African American cuisines, were provided to the participants.  

The app is not available for use by the public as it is still under examination. Mayo Clinic researchers will now focus on assessing the utility and efficacy of the FAITH app in clinical care and health system settings.