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Hearts for Life

An Effective Practice

Description

The Hearts for Life program is a community-based project to identify cardiovascular risk behaviors and change them through an educational intervention. Participants in the program complete a series of questionnaires to create a coronary risk profile. After receiving their personal risk profile, participants attend small group educational sessions about reducing risk behaviors. The sessions include presentations conducted by trained public health nurses about heart disease, risk factors, and risk reduction strategies. Risk-reduction behavioral changes focus on dietary changes, stress reduction, physical activity, weight loss, and smoking cessation.

Goal / Mission

The goal of the Hearts for Life program is to increase knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and encourage healthy cardiovascular behaviors.

Results / Accomplishments

The Hearts for Life intervention was evaluated using a pre- and post-intervention study using questionnaires completed before the program and three months following the educational sessions. The program resulted in a significant increase in knowledge about coronary risk issues (p < 0.01). Individuals who initially reported risk behaviors including smoking, high risk eating behaviors, high stress levels, inactivity, or obesity made significant positive behavioral changes. Individuals who were overweight at the onset of the program improved nutrition and exercise patterns.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Lakehead University School of Nursing, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario
Primary Contact
Rhonda Kirk-Gardner
Lakehead University
School of Nursing
955 Oliver Road
Thunder Bay
Ontario P7B 5E1
Canada
(807) 343-8393
rhonda.kirk-gardner@lakeheadu.ca
http://nursing.lakeheadu.ca/
Topics
Health / Heart Disease & Stroke
Health / Physical Activity
Health / Wellness & Lifestyle
Organization(s)
Lakehead University School of Nursing, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario
Source
Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing
Date of publication
2003
Location
Ontario, Canada
For more details
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12703099?itool=...
Target Audience
Adults

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Related Content for: Hearts for Life

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

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