Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers

Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers is a disease prevention program for sedentary female municipal workers with known heart disease risk factors. The program educates women about their risks and susceptibility to heart disease in five weekly lunchtime group sessions. During the first week women learn about the prevalence of heart disease in women and the importance of knowing their risk factors through “The Heart Truth” presentation developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In the second week, a cardiologist presents modifiable and non-modifiable heart disease risk factors, with an emphasis on blood pressure and cholesterol. A nutritionist leads a presentation on heart-healthy eating habits in the third week. In the fourth week a physical exercise trainer helps women identify ways to control their weight and promote movement and exercise at their desks. In the final week, an employee assistance counselor presents information about the relationship between stress and heart disease, stress management, and relaxation.

The goal of the Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers program is to improve women’s knowledge of and perceived susceptibility to heart disease.

Offering the intervention in the workplace made education available to an ethnically diverse, lower-income working population. In a pre- and post-study, a majority of participants (58%) improved their knowledge of heart disease, and 50% of the participants increased their perception of susceptibility to heart disease. The greatest improvement in both knowledge and awareness of susceptibility occurred among those with limited pre-intervention knowledge and low perceptions of susceptibility.