Black Impact: The Mechanisms Underlying Psychosocial Stress Reduction in a Cardiovascular Health Intervention

What to expect

No one can promise a trial will help you personally — that is what the research is trying to find out.

What participation involves

Not stated in the study description — ask the study team about visits and procedures.

Compensation

Not stated

• Study-related exams and procedures are typically provided at no cost. This is how many trials work in general — confirm the details for this study with the study team.
• Participants are monitored closely by the research team throughout the study.
• Some participants may receive access to an investigational treatment, which is still being studied.
• Your participation helps researchers learn whether this approach could help future patients.

About this study

Lower attainment of cardiovascular health (CVH), indicated by the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7; physical activity, diet, cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index, smoking, glycemia) and Life's Essential 8 (LE8; LS7+sleep) metrics, is a major contributor to Black men having the shortest life-expectancy of any non-indigenous race/sex group. Unfortunately, a paucity of literature exists on interventions aimed at improving CVH among Black men. The team of clinician scientists and community partners co-developed a community-based lifestyle intervention titled Black Impact: a 24-week intervention for Black men with less-than-ideal CVH (\<4 LS7 metrics in the ideal range) with 45 minutes of weekly physical activity, 45 minutes of weekly health education, and engagement with a health coach, group fitness trainer, and community health worker. Single-arm pilot testing of the intervention (n=74) revealed high feasibility, acceptability, and retention and a 0.93 (95% confidence interval: 0.40, 1.46, p\<0.001) point increase in LS7 score at 24 weeks. Secondary outcomes included improvements in psychosocial stress (i.e., perceived stress, depressive symptoms), patient activation, and social needs. Thus, robustly powered clinical trials are needed to determine the efficacy of Black Impact and to evaluate the underlying interpersonal and molecular pathways by which Black Impact improves psychosocial stress and CVH. Thus, the investigators propose a randomized, wait-list controlled trial of Black Impact. This novel, community-based intervention to provide a scalable model to improve CVH and psychosocial stress at the population level and evaluate the biological underpinnings by which the intervention mitigates cardiovascular disease risk. The proposed study aligns with American Heart Association's commitment to addressing CVH equity through innovative, multi-modal solutions.

Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.

Eligibility

Study sites (1)