TY - JOUR
T1 - Neighborhood perceptions and hypertension among low-income black women
T2 - a qualitative study
AU - Al-Bayan, Maliyhah
AU - Islam, Nadia
AU - Edwards, Shawneaqua
AU - Duncan, Dustin T.
N1 - Funding Information:
At the time of the study, Dr. Dustin Duncan was supported by his NYU School of Medicine Faculty Start-Up Fund. Dr. Nadia Islam was supported by grant numbers P60MD000538 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and grant numbers U48DP005008 and U58DP005621 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The NYC Low-Income Housing, Neighborhoods and Health Study was supported by the NYU-HHC Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Pilot Project Awards Program (Dr. Dustin Duncan, Principal Investigator). The NYU-HHC CTSI is supported in part by grant UL1TR000038 (Dr. Bruce Cronstein, Principal Investigator and Dr. Judith Hochman, co-Principal Investigator) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH. We thank the research assistants for this project: Shilpa Dutta; William Goedel; Brittany Gozlan; Kenneth Pass; James Williams; and Abebayehu Yilma. We also thank the participants for taking the time to participate in this research. We acknowledge the efforts of Craig Washington for his assistance with the transcription of the interviews. We also thank Jonathan Varghese, Aisha Khan and Yazan Al-Ajlouni for their assistance with the preparation of this manuscript, and Chrystel Dol and Jace Morganstein for helping conduct some background research. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH and CDC.
PY - 2016/10/12
Y1 - 2016/10/12
N2 - BACKGROUND: The majority of studies examining the role of neighborhoods and hypertension-related outcomes have been quantitative in nature and very few studies have examined specific disadvantaged populations, including low-income housing residents. The objective of this study was to use qualitative interviews to explore low-income Black women's perceptions of their neighborhoods and to understand how those perceptions may affect their health, especially as it relates to blood pressure.METHODS: Seventeen Black female participants, living in public housing communities in New York City, completed one semi-structured, audiotaped interview in July of 2014. All interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for emerging themes using N'Vivo 10 software.RESULTS: Three major themes emerged: (1) social connectedness, (2) stress factors, and (3) availability of food options. For example, factors that caused stress varied throughout the study population. Sources of stress included family members, employment, and uncleanliness within the neighborhood. Many participants attributed their stress to personal issues, such as lack of employment and relationships. In addition, the general consensus among many participants was that there should be a greater density of healthy food options in their neighborhoods. Some believed that the pricing of fresh foods in the neighborhoods should better reflect the financial status of the residents in the community.CONCLUSIONS: Various neighborhood influences, including neighborhood disorder and lack of healthy food options, are factors that appear to increase Black women's risk of developing high blood pressure. Implications of this research include the need to develop interventions that promote good neighborhood infrastructure (e.g. healthy food stores to encourage good nutrition habits and well-lit walking paths to encourage daily exercise), in addition to interventions that increase hypertension awareness in low-income neighborhoods.
AB - BACKGROUND: The majority of studies examining the role of neighborhoods and hypertension-related outcomes have been quantitative in nature and very few studies have examined specific disadvantaged populations, including low-income housing residents. The objective of this study was to use qualitative interviews to explore low-income Black women's perceptions of their neighborhoods and to understand how those perceptions may affect their health, especially as it relates to blood pressure.METHODS: Seventeen Black female participants, living in public housing communities in New York City, completed one semi-structured, audiotaped interview in July of 2014. All interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for emerging themes using N'Vivo 10 software.RESULTS: Three major themes emerged: (1) social connectedness, (2) stress factors, and (3) availability of food options. For example, factors that caused stress varied throughout the study population. Sources of stress included family members, employment, and uncleanliness within the neighborhood. Many participants attributed their stress to personal issues, such as lack of employment and relationships. In addition, the general consensus among many participants was that there should be a greater density of healthy food options in their neighborhoods. Some believed that the pricing of fresh foods in the neighborhoods should better reflect the financial status of the residents in the community.CONCLUSIONS: Various neighborhood influences, including neighborhood disorder and lack of healthy food options, are factors that appear to increase Black women's risk of developing high blood pressure. Implications of this research include the need to develop interventions that promote good neighborhood infrastructure (e.g. healthy food stores to encourage good nutrition habits and well-lit walking paths to encourage daily exercise), in addition to interventions that increase hypertension awareness in low-income neighborhoods.
KW - Black women
KW - Blood pressure
KW - Hypertension
KW - Low-income housing
KW - Neighborhoods
KW - Qualitative research
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U2 - 10.1186/s12889-016-3741-2
DO - 10.1186/s12889-016-3741-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 27733142
AN - SCOPUS:85027449652
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 16
SP - 1075
JO - BMC public health
JF - BMC public health
IS - 1
M1 - 1075
ER -